The House of Hades-How I think it should be
by OMGIluvreading
Summary: What happens when Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus? Who will win the war between the camps? Who is the new girl and what is her curse? This is my 1st fanfic. Rated T for violence
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I - AMELI**

_How am I supposed to explain to explain myself or why I'm here? I don't even have a surname for crying out loud! _ButI knew that if anyone would understand it would be Annabeth, in more ways than one. She knew what it was like to be surrounded by people and still feel so alone. Then she lost her boyfriend, like me, except she got her's back. I might never get him back at this rate. Even if I did see him he's gonna be angry, and I knew if I went through with my plan I'd have to see him. It not that I don't miss him, just that I'm afraid of having to say goodbye again. I've only met her once, and she mightn't remember because we were only seven.

Maybe I should explain: I'm a demigod see, half god, half mortal. If you don't believe me then I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you. As to who my godly parent is, I haven't a clue. All I know is that it was my father and he was a Greek god, not Roman. My mum was mortal, but I don't know her either, and she doesn't know me. She mightn't even know she has a kid, 'cause my patron took me away not long after I was born. I know what you're thinking_, how can she not know she has a daughter?_ The Mist stopped her from realising that I ever existed. Mist is the stuff that prevents humans from seeing things they shouldn't, like monsters, a huge 200ft long trireme of demigods flying and sailing across Central Europe or a full-out invasion of the island of Manhattan by the Lord of Time (Kronos) in an attempt to overthrow the gods.

The whole invasion thing took place last summer and he failed _again_ if anyone's wondering. Honestly, you'd think he would have got the message the first time. This war was a little bit different than the one that took place centuries ago; while the gods fought Typhon, Jason Grace and his army of Roman demigods conquered Mount Othrys, and Percy Jackson and his army of Greek demigods, nature spirits and Hunters of Artemis protected Mount Olympus and defeated Kronos.

Sorry, getting a bit off track. There's a good chance you already know about the 'Prophecy of the Seven' and Gaia. But just in case, the seven are Percy, son of Poseidon, Annabeth, daughter of Athena, Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, Jason, son of Jupiter, Hazel, daughter of Pluto, Frank, son of Mars, and Leo, son of Hephaestus, the first fire user since Thomas Farynor-the guy who started the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Romans have known about the prophecy for centuries, but the Greeks only got it last summer, pretty much as soon Rachel became the Oracle.

I jumped down from my perch half-way up the tree, grabbed my backpack and headed to the edge of the woods. I looked up and saw, very far away, a dark oval that was the base of the Argo II.

It was time to meet the seven.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading this-please review! The girl's name in the first chapter is pronounced Am-el-ee**

**Chapter II - NICO**

I paced up and down the deck of the Argo II, silently praying to my father for guidance. He's not normally the helping type, but I would try anything if there was a chance of getting Percy and Annabeth back. I quit pacing the deck and leant on the railing.I waited for a reply. Of course he didn't answer. He never did. Anger welled up inside of me. I kicked the side of the ship. 'Useless! Completely useless!' I yelled.

'Nico, please calm down,'Hazel pleaded. She looked distraught-they all did. It didn't help that they were all counting on him to lead them to the house of his father.

'Hazel's right, it's not Hades' fault-no god has enough power to get them out. It's up to us to save them.'

It was scary how Piper could always tell what he was thinking.

'Yeah, it's stupid to blame anyone but me,' Leo sighed. He turned on his heel and headed below decks.

'God's sakes Leo you can't blame yourself,' Jason called after him.'It's Gaia and Nemesis' fault, not yours!'

'Just let him cool off, Jase,'Piper told him.'Go get some rest. You too Frank,you haven't slept in ages.'

'I think I'll lie down for a while too,'I said. I followed the guys to the stairs.

'Me and Piper will keep an eye on things for a couple of hours,' Hazel reassured them. I don't really know why I keep trying to sleep. I'm just haunted with nightmares the entire time, but I didn't want to worry the girls. They had enough on their minds without worrying about my messed-up dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3-AMELI**

The girls on deck looked at me as if I jumped from the moon. The-

Oh, hang on, I missed a bit, didn't I? Stupid ADHD. Plus I never actually said where I was either. The forests I mentioned was Tranorema Drakotripa, Greece on the coast of the Gulf of Corinth, about 120 miles from the capital city, Athens.

Once I decided that I'd have to meet the seven and visit the Argo II, I whistled as loud as I could, a proper NY taxi whistle. JayJay, a pegasus I'd befriended years ago, soared down towards me a couple of minutes later.

'Hiya, Jay, how you doing?'

_Got any sugar lumps for me Amy? _(Yea, I can talk to animals. It's a blessing of Pan thing-explain later.)

'That's nice JayJay, no 'Hey Amy, any monster attacks lately?', no 'How's your life been the past month that I haven't seen you?'

_I guess thats a no to the sugar question, eh? _

'Missed you too, Jay.' I hugged his neck. 'Now come on, we have some new friends to make. Oh, and maybe an old one too.'

I jumped up on his back and held on tight.

_Where to then, Ameli?_

'Straight up, Jay, straight up.'

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We soared upwards, the wind spraying my dark hair all over the place. This was the only time I ever felt safe flying-I hate aeroplanes.

We neared the ship._ Slow up_, I thought to JayJay. We glided up over the side and landed almost noiselessly on the main deck. The two girls on deck looked at me as if I jumped from the moon. I figured I should say something, but couldn't get the words out. They gauped at me.

'Uh...hi,' I managed to utter.

_Oh Gods_ ,I thought, _here we go_.

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**Cliffhanger! Hope you liked it. I'll write again soon. Please review-this is my first fanfic!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Thanks so much for reading this and tinkerbell for following. I hope you like this next chapter. Reviews please! I don't own PJO or HoO, but I do own the new characters.**

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**Chapter 4 - Annabeth**

Falling...falling...falling. It was the only thing I was sure of. The only thing I could think of.

Except...Percy. I could feel his arms around me and his heart beatly rapidly. It felt as if we'd been falling for eons. An image flashed into my head; a sign at Camp Jupiter saying something like Hades 2000 and something miles, with an arrow pointing down. We'd have to have fallen more than that by now surely. I didn't know how much longer it would take til we hit the ground, or if this was what it would feel like the entire time, but sure as Zeus I wished it would end. A child of Athena is good with plans and designs, but I just can't stand this much uncertainty.

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When the impact finally came, I barely noticed. There was a weird dragging-sensation, like watching a movie in slow motion, making me feel heavy inside and as if I was trying to swim through custard. And then...nothing. We just stopped. I looked down. The ground, only a few feet below us now, wasn't what I expected. I had thought of endless plains littered with bones or desert like land with black sand instead of ground. Instead it was a forest, a forest filled with dead trees and plants, and burnt grass. We were floating in a clearing. There was something strange, even though the sky was pitch black, much more haunting and ghostly than a normal night sky, I could see. They was no light source as far as I could tell, I could just...well...see.

We hovered for a few seconds, and then dropped to the forest floor. _Gods my ankle's killing me._ I let out a whimper.

'Annabeth? Annabeth, c'mon please say something,' Percy pleaded. He eased me off him and knelt over me.'Talk to me. Please, Wise Girl!'

'Seaweed Brain.' My voice was hoarse. Percy was almost sobbing with relief.

'Thank Gods. You had me worried, there.'

I propped myself up on my elbow and winced as I shifted my bad ankle. 'We're in Hell, Seaweed Brain. You should be worried.'

'Yeah, but you're Ok.'He glanced at my foot. 'Well, mostly.'

He hoisted me up and I put my arm round him for support. Percy shouldered his backpack which had fallen just at the edge of the clearing. I made to go get mine, but he said.'Not a chance,' and carried it to.

'Ok,' I said.'What do we do now?

'Let's find a place to rest up for a couple of hours, eh?'

'Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena.'

'Don't know about Athena,' he grumbled,'I'm not sure she's as wise as everyone says, after a comment she made about a certain one of her kids.' He gave me a look that said he wasn't going to let what went on between me and Mom go.

I was about to reply but was cut off by an enormous roar echoing through the forest.

'What was that?' I asked, trying to ignore how much I sounded like a teriffied six year old.

'I'd know that sound anywhere,' Percy said darkly.

'Oh.' Something clicked in my brain and Percy nodded, knowing I'd figured it out.'Pasiphae's son.'

We said the same three words at the exact same time:'The Minotaur's back.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Ha! 2 cliffhangers in a row! Please review!**

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**Chapter 5-PIPER**

We'd only just sent the guys below decks about 15 minutes before the girl landed beside us. She had dark wavy hair with a white streak at the front. She had green eyes, but I could only see one of them because her hair fell across her face. She seemed familiar, as if I'd seen her before, but at the same time I knew that this was the first time I'd met her in my life. I glanced at Hazel and saw my expression reflected in hers; What in Hades are we supposed to do?

She looked nervous as if she was almost as shocked as us.

'Um, hi,' she said. Her horse made a snorting sound. 'Yea that's really helpful Jay.' She talked really sarcastically to the pegasus and rolled her eyes.

'Ok,' Hazel said, 'Questions-Who are you? What are you? What are you doing here? You talk to horses? And, the most important one of all, should I have my sword out?' I almost laughed-this wasn't a side of Hazel I'd seen before.

'Uh, no you won't need your sword.'

'How do we know we can trust you?' I asked her.

'You don't, but I'd really prefer to talk to you than get a sword under my chin,' the girl said.

I glanced towards the door, thinking I should wake the four guys, but the girl seemed to know what I was thinking. 'No, please, let me talk to you guys first.'

Hazel said, 'How do you know there are more of us?'

'I'll answer that and the rest of your questions, just don't wake the others yet. I'll even give you my weapons so you know I'm unarmed.'

'Fine. Start talking,' I said.

'Right, I'm Amy, short for Ameli, I'm 16, I'm a demigod, and this is JayJay my pegasus.' She gestured towards the animal behind her who was making itself comfortable on the floor. 'Yea, I can talk to horses and most other animals, because I carry part of the spirit of Pan.' I didn't notice at first but she had an accent, it wasn't very strong. Scottish maybe.

'Pan? What's that?' Hazel asked her.

'That naiad talked about Pan-you know, the one who tried to drown me, Jase and Percy.' I told her.

I looked at Ameli-her eyes filled with tears. 'Pan is- Pan was the God of the Wild.'

'Oh, his Roman form is Faunus, yea?'

Amy nodded.

'How come you have part of his spirit in you? I didn't think that was possible.'

'It's rare,' she answered. A tear ran down her face. 'None of the other gods' spirits are in demigods.'

Hazel's eyes filled with curiosity and wonder. 'Why are you crying? And why is Pan the only god who's spirit is split up?'

Tears started spilling down her cheeks. 'Because Pan's dead,' she said in a hoarse voice.

I realised that that must have been what Percy had wanted to tell the naiads back in Rome. I'd never heard of Pan before, but I figured Amy must have known him well for him to trust her with his spirit.

'Stop crying, you idiot,' she muttered to herself and wiped her eyes. 'Sorry.'

Hazel shook her head. 'You don't have to apologize for missing someone who's dead. Heck, it's been 70 years since my mom died-I still miss her.'

I kinda thought Amy might be shocked at Hazel being over 70, but she smiled gratefully to her as if this was no big deal, or like she already knew.

'Hey, Amy?' I said,'You said you were a demigod, so, if you don't mind me asking, who's your parent?' She winced. 'Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-'

She let out a small laugh. 'No-it's Ok. Um, I don't know actually. Pan told me that it was my dad who was a god and that he was Greek, but that's all I know.'

Hazel brow furrowed. 'Why woudn't he tell you?'

'He told me that it would be better if I found out myself. He took me away from my parents as a baby, see, and used the Mist to make them forget.'

'And you still trusted him? Even though he, like, kidnapped you?'

She sighed as if she'd had this conversation a lot. 'No one ever understands-I don't know why I bother. He did what he did for my own safety, to keep Gaea from knowing about me and I could never be more grateful to anyone.'

Whoops, maybe I hit a nerve. Normally I'm pretty good with emotions-I know when not to ask about something, but that didn't seem to work with her. She was completely unpredictable.

'Sorry,' Amy looked at me apologetically.'It's just kinda hard to make people see it the way I do. Everyone alw-' She cut off mid-sentence, staring at something behind my head.

'Amy?' Hazel said tentatively.

'Behind you,' she whispered.

I spun around and drew my weapon from its sheath, expecting a monster to appear.

'Huh?' Wow. I sounded real smart, didn't I? Instead of a monster it was...well I'm not exactly sure what I thought it was. It kinda looked like a ghost-not the Underworld type, the type you used to dress up as in first grade as for Halloween with a bed sheet over your head. One major difference it was seriously bright. It glowed orangey reddy colours and was about a head shorter than Hazel.

It started getting brighter.

Amy cried out. 'Look away!' I screwed my eyes shut. Even with them closed I could tell it had got so bright that it was like looking directly at the Sun.

'Haha, sorry about that. You can look again.' It was a young girl's voice-an ten year old or something.

Slowly I opened my eyes. Okay, this was getting weirder and weirder. She was younger than I thought. Eight maybe.

'Who in Hades are you?' Hazel said.

'Romans say Hades?' Amy took a step closer.

'Pluto doesn't sound right.'

How was that so interesting to them when a third grader just appeared on a magic flying warship?

'Back to the main problem-we still don't know she is!' I tried to change the topic.

'Oh, Amy can answer that for you.' She gave Amy a warm smile-as if they were old friends or something.

Amy returned the grin. 'Guys this is Hestia, goddess of the hearth.'


	6. Chapter 6

**I've only got 3 reviews so far...really want to know what you think! :D**

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**Chapter VI - ANNABETH**

_Oh my Gods. Ariachne, Tartarus and the Minotaur all in one day. Could this be any worse? Actually, _I thought to myself, _it could. Percy could not be here._

'Annabeth we have to move now,' Percy breathed.

I shook my head. 'No way are we gonna out run him. I say we fight.'

'No-'

'Yes, Percy. You've killed him twice on your own. We can definitely do it together.'

This time it was Percy's turn to shake his head. 'You're too weak. Don't pretend you're ankle's not still hurting you, you know it is. Will you please just find a place to hide? Like you said, I've done this twice, I can do it again.' Gods, he was annoying sometimes, especially when he had a point. It was sweet, but still, I could take care of myself.

Oddly enough, Percy seemed to know what I was thinking.

'Look you know I'm right. Please Annabeth, I can't lose you again. He'll be here soon. Just hide.' He sounded as if he was on the verge of tears.

'Percy...I can't let you do this on your own. I c-can't just leave you.' Oh, great. I was stuttering again. 'What if something happened? I won't lose you again.'

'Hey,' he gave a small smile. 'I promised I wouldn't leave you again and I meant it.'

'Fine.' I took both backpacks from him. 'But I swear if you die fighting it then I will kill you Percy.'

'Point taken: try not to die.'

'I love you.'

'I love you too,' he said. I kissed his salty lips and turned away from the clearing, into the forests of death. All I knew was that these next couple of hours would be the hardest of my life.

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**I know this wasn't very long and not much action happened but I'll try to make the next chapter more exciting.**

**PS. I writing another fanfic called Discovering Truths about Joss Stirling's Finding Sky trilogy-if you like romance and telepathy you should try them!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for all your reviews! I've no school today or tomorrow so hopefuly I'll post another chapter.**

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**Chapter VII-Hazel**

What? Was this girl serious? She expected us to believe that a Greek goddess walked around looking like an eight year old? Fine, it wasn't the weirdest thing I'd seen since being brought back from the Underworld, but still, it was pretty hard to believe. I glanced over at Piper and she looked back at me. She seemed uneasy, but not as shocked as I was.

Hestia turned her eyes on me. They were filled with fire, but the cosy and comforting kind, not the threatening _I'm gonna kill you kind_ that I was used to by now. 'You don't believe that I am Hestia.'

'It's not that,' I told her, 'I just expected you to be a bit older, like, not a kid.'

She smiled. 'You are not the first to think that, daughter of Pluto.' I flinched. I didn't like being called by my father's name. 'In fact, your friend Percy was the same.'

'Percy?' I spluttered, 'You know Percy?'

'Of course, everyone knows of Percy Jackson. Not always for good reasons, that is. I have met him several times, the first time being when he had just come from visiting the mother of Luke Castellan with Nico.'

'Nico? Nico knows you?' I asked her. I was kinda shocked. Nico hadn't mentioned this before.

'Hold on a sec, Luke? The guy Annabeth told me about? Wasn't he the one who gave himself to Kronos?' Piper said.

'Indeed he was. A terrible fate for one so young.'

'Uh, Hestia,' Amy interrupted, 'I don't mean to be rude. It's great to see you and everything, but why are you here?' Until now I had almost forgotten she was here.

'To help of course,' she informed us, smiling. 'Oh but first…' She screwed up her eyes as if she was concentrating on something. The glowing light formed around Hestia again but this time instead of making her disappear, it made her grow. It was really freaky, like someone was pulling her from both ends, making her stretch.

When the light faded again she was different. I mean, it was still the same girl, I could tell that much, but she was taller, older. She looked about 14 or 15 and was now taller than me, just a tiny bit shorter than Piper and Ameli.

'That's better.' She stretched her shoulders. Only then did she notice how shocked our expressions were. She grinned. 'I wanted to fit in a bit better. I know I can be hard to take seriously when I look like a child. It is something both I and Artemis have struggled with over the years.'

We kept staring at her. Amy was the first to come out of the daze. 'Since when have you been able to do that? You've never done it before, not around me or any of the others.' Huh? Others? What did she mean by that?

Hestia shrugged. 'I never felt the need to change my appearance before. Oh, how are the others? Alanna? Seth? Isabel? Le- ah, of course. Sorry.'

Who are all these people? How does Amy and Hestia know them? I looked to Piper and tried to ask her these questions without speaking. Her face looked the same. _And what's with Hestia being sorry about the last person? Dead maybe?_ she seemed to ask me.

Amy's face had turned dark. 'It's Ok.' She was quiet for a few seconds. 'I haven't spoken to any of them since the last war. After Kronos was defeated, we went our separate ways. Seth and Izzy went back to the UK. Alanna went home. He…he went… well, I guess you know that part.' Hestia nodded in response. 'And I went on the run,' she finished. _Who does she mean by he?_ I wondered.

'What?' Piper said.

Amy turned to us and shrugged. 'I had nowhere to go. So I just… ran.'

'Why?' Piper questioned. 'You could've just gone to camp. Then you would've been safe from monsters.'

'Yea,' I agreed, 'wouldn't that have been easier? I mean, what reasons would you have not to?'

'What? For why I didn't go to camp? That is a very long story.'

'Well, Amy,' said Hestia, 'if you are to help each other then I think they ought to know your story.'

Amy took a shaky breath. 'Fine. But this will take a while.'

'That's fine. Do you, uh, want something eat or…?' I trailed off.

'No need Hazel. I can sort that out.' Hestia waved her hand and a picnic blanket appeared on the deck, covered in all sorts of food; Bread rolls, pastries, cakes and biscuits. On the other side of the blanket there was a tray of empty goblets, like the ones we had downstairs, which I assumed would fill with whatever drink you wanted. Hestia smiled at us again. 'Tuck in.'

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**Hope you like this. Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi! Thanks for reviewing. This was gonna be from Annabeth POV again but I decided to continue from the last chapter in Ameli's POV cos I got a review from tinkerbell427 (thanks for reviewing!) saying she really wants to know the main part of the story. This explains a lot of Amy's past. Next chapter will be Percy/Annabeth.**

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**Chapter VIII-AMELI**

It wasn't until Hestia made the food appear that I realised just how hungry I was. I hadn't had a proper meal in a while, and Hestia's cooking (can you call it cooking if she makes it appear from thin air?) was always the best. I sat down at the edge of the picnic blanket, lifted a plate and started piling it with food. I was ravenous.

'So,' Hazel began, 'Uh…would you mind answering some questions?'

'Sure,' I told her. 'What do you want to know?'

'Why don't you go to camp? How do you know Hestia? And, um, who are those people you were talking about?'

I ran through the answers in my head. 'I guess I'll have to tell you my whole story, 'cause none of it will make sense otherwise.' Piper and Hazel nodded as if to say _that's OK_. I took a deep breath. _This is gonna be a long couple of hours,_ I thought. 'Right. Not long after I was born, Pan took me away from my mother, and used the Mist to make her and my father forget they ever had me. He told me it was to keep me safe, to stop anyone evil from finding me and using me to their advantage. He took me away from American, which is where he said I'm from. Pan brought me to a family in Northern Ireland, and they adopted me. He didn't tell them the truth about me. As far as they knew, I was just a normal orphaned kid, and Pan was a social worker in charge of my placement. They never saw him again after that, but he still spoke to me, in my head. He had spent years getting the energy to protect me, and afterwards he was worse than ever. He retreated to an underground cave in the Labyrinth.'

'That's where he died, isn't it?' Piper interjected. 'Annabeth told me she and Percy were there when he died. So were Grover, Tyson, Rachel and Nico, weren't they?'

'Yea, that's right,' I told her. My eyes started to sting. I willed myself not to cry.

'Nico was there?' Hazel asked. 'He never mentioned it to me.'

I breathed deeply for a few seconds and continued, 'He died when I was fourteen. He lasted longer than he expected, but he told me he had to see Grover, so he could tell the other nature spirits the truth. Anyway, while I was growing up, he kept some of the monsters away, so that I would have a better chance of surviving. He trained me, taught me to fight, to use nature healing. He was never there in person, but he talked to me, and explained fighting tactics that had been forgotten years ago. Any survival skills I could possibly need, he taught me.' I paused for a minute.

'Hazel, you asked why I didn't go to camp?'

Her brow creased and she nodded. 'Yes.'

'I did. Not after the Titan War, no. But before that I did. I started going to Camp Half-Blood each summer when I was ten.' I took off the camp necklace that I always wore under my T-shirt and showed them the five beads; a manticore, a _really_ angry wood nymph, Poseidon's trident, the Golden Fleece and a maze.

'Hang on,' Hazel said, 'You told us you're 16 and you've been going since you were 10, so shouldn't you have six?'

'Yeah, I should,' I agreed. 'But you get these beads at the end of the summer. I didn't go to camp the summer before the war, except for the first few weeks.'

'Why couldn't you go back?'

'If I went back after the war then people I would know I was different. Percy made the gods promise to claim their kids. I knew I wouldn't be claimed. People would start asking questions, and Pan told me I wasn't to tell them. No-one at camp ever paid any attention to me. I was on my own most of the time. That's how I preferred it. The Mist helped people to forget about me, so no-one noticed me. If I had stayed there, then I would be the only unclaimed left in Hermes.'

'Huh? What about Hermes?' Hazel asked us.

'At our camp, Hazel,' Piper told her, 'if you don't know who you're godly parent is, they put you in the Hermes cabin, because he is the god of travellers. That's what unclaimed means.'

'When he defeated my father, Percy Jackson asked that gods would no longer ignore their children. After that, anyone brought to Camp Half-Blood was claimed within a matter of hours,' Hestia added.

Everyone was quiet for a minute or so. I concentrated on my food, not having eaten properly for a few days.

'Amy?' I looked up. It was Piper who had spoken. 'If you'd been at camp so long, would you know Percy or Annabeth?'

I shrugged. 'Like I said, no-one noticed me much. I don't think anyone would recognise me if you asked them.' I paused. 'Annabeth or Thalia might though.'

'Really? How come? If no-one noticed you-'

I cut her off. 'They would know me from before camp.' Piper narrowed her eyes.

'But Thalia and Annabeth have been at camp for years. How could you have known them from before?'

'You know,' I told her, 'it would be much easier to explain if Annabeth was here. She mightn't recognise me, though. It's been what? Nine years? We were only seven. You can go get her if you want.' I nodded towards the door.

The others exchanged gloomy looks, Hazel and Piper almost in tears. They weren't telling me something. 'What?' I said. 'What's wro-'

'Amy,' Hestia said, 'they aren't here. They fell to Tartarus after they got the statue.' I stared at her in shock. It wasn't like they we were good friends or anything, but Percy and Annabeth were two of the strongest demigods I'd ever heard of. The seven were the best chance we had to win this war, and now two were gone.

But this wasn't possible. I would have seen it coming with my wretched _gift_-curse more like it. The girls didn't know about it yet, but Hestia did, so I turned to her for answers. 'How would I have missed this? I've _never_ missed anything this big before. How could I not see-'

My rant was interrupted by an image popping into my head. Not an image actually, a vision. _Uh_, I groaned internally. Whenever I saw visions of the future without me looking for them deliberately, it meant they were important, and in the demigod world, the definition of important was nearly always: big trouble.

The vision was slightly blurred at first, but became clearer soon after. The light was odd, tinged red, but not like a sunset, more like fire. I seemed to be watching from the edge of a clearing, in the middle of a forest. A _dead_ forest, I realised. Everything was black. In the centre of the clearing there was a boy holding a sword. He was dressed in tattered jeans and a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. He seemed to be preparing for a fight, like he knew something was coming. It was Percy Jackson, which meant this must be…Tartarus. I'd never had visions of this place before, and hopefully I wouldn't again. I know red light and dead trees don't sound very scary, but there was a weird feeling to the place, making you feel like you were in mortal danger wherever you went, but then again, you probably were.

I heard a huge, ear-piercing roar, coming from not very far off. _Uh oh_, I thought, _it was _him_ again_. I looked over the tops of the trees. I couldn't see him. How could I not see- Oh, I could see him now. The top of his head was visible over the trees. He was coming really fast now, his huge feet pounding across the forest floor. He let out another yell of anger.

I looked at where his horns ought to be. The stumps that were left were short and jagged. The one on the left had been down to Percy Jackson ripping it off when he was twelve. The other to me. _Yea_, I thought, _I hope that still hurts_.

The vision started to fade. I never had any control over when the visions stopped, and it really bugged me. Sometimes I saw too much or too little.

When my eyesight cleared I was lying on the deck of the Argo II.

'What the hell just happened?' Hazel asked. I looked at Hestia, knowing she must have worked it out. She nodded. I propped myself up on my elbows and took a sip of the water Piper had offered to me.

'Well,' I said, more to myself than to anyone else, 'that came a bit late.'

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**Now you know what her gift/curse is (most of it anyway!). Hope you enjoyed this chapter. R&R**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry if this is short-I'll try to update over the weekend again.**

**:D Maria**

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**Chapter IX-PERCY**

Finally, I turned around after watching Annabeth disappear off into the forest. After losing her for six months, it was extremely painful, like watching her ride off on her quest again, and, well, we all know how that ended. I had an urge to chase after her, but I stood my ground to fight. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to find her again, and if my experience in the labyrinth was anything to go by, it was highly likely.

Another yell of anger from Beef Boy, and my thoughts of Annabeth vanished, my mind back on fighting. I could see the top of his head poking through the trees. Hang on…why were there no horns? I knew why one was missing-I had been the one to break it off when I was 12 years old-but where was the other one?

I turned to look behind me. There was nothing there. Then why did I feel like I was being watched? It wasn't an evil feeling-not the cold feeling that Annabeth had described about the eidolons- more like reassuring. After a second more, it faded. I tried to put it to the back of my mind and concentrate on the Minotaur.

Although I could see his head now, he seemed to have trouble finding me. I know that his sight and hearing are terrible, but I thought he may have smelt me by now, or that he would have found it easier because he was in Tartarus instead of on earth. I had always expected monsters to be stronger here, because this is where they are 'reborn'… Oh, gods. How did I (or Annabeth) not figure this before? How am I supposed to kill him if he's in the place where he goes after death?

The sound of pounding feet and more growling from bull face cut off my thoughts_. Oh well, _I thought_, may as well fight him anyway._ I backed up, not wanting to be trampled as soon he entered the clearing. A second later he broke through the edge of the trees, screaming with rage. His eyesight may not be good, but I guess he recognised me, this being the third time he has attempted to kill me.

He thundered towards me, axe raised. I jumped to the side and slashed Riptide across his shoulder. He should have been yelling in pain but he reacted more like I had poked him with a needle. Oh boy, finding a way to kill him was gonna be fun.

I knew the sidestepping trick wouldn't work for long, he was used to me doing that. I tried to remember exactly how I'd beaten him the last time. It was during the war, on the Williamsburg Bridge. Of course, then I'd been almost invincible, so it was pretty hard for anyone to hurt me. I thought back to shortly after that, and when Annabeth had taken Ethan Nakamura's knife for me. She had been lying in the middle of the road, her shoulder wounded. I remembered how angry I had been at Kronos for hurting her, for hurting everyone I knew with the deaths he caused.

I got up off the forest floor and struck his side. He grunted in pain, but not as much as I wanted him too. He swung his axe at my head and I ducked. For what felt like hours we fought. I slashed and he swung. I dodged and he attempted to trample me with his huge feet. I was getting tired, fast. It felt like the forest was draining my energy, making it harder to counteract all the Minotaur's strikes. Every movement I made felt slow and sluggish. The Minotaur seemed to realise this. He was smarter than I'd ever given him credit for. He feinted striking to my left and I dodged right. While I was busy getting my balance back, he struck again with the handle of the axe, hitting me hard over the head and knocking me out cold.

_Annabeth_, I thought, _I'm_ _sorry_.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for not updating yesterday but I was at a football match (gaelic not soccer). We won!**

**Chapter X-HAZEL**

I was pretty shocked when Amy just passed out. I didn't know what she meant when she asked how she didn't _see_ what happened to Annabeth and Percy, but Hestia seemed to understand. The relationship between the two of them was weird. It seemed that they knew each other well, but who can become friends with a god?

When she passed out she fell sideways onto the floor. Hestia didn't seem surprised. She acted as if this had happened before, kneeling by Amy's side and laying her out on her back, then opening her eyelids. Her eyes had rolled backwards so they were completely white, but they were glowing slightly too. I wanted to kneel beside her like Hestia and make sure she was okay, but the eyes were too much for me. It really creeped me out, even though it wasn't the oddest thing I had seen recently. Piper didn't seem too shocked by it all. Surprised maybe, but not freaked out.

She came round a minute later. Amy was covered in cold sweat.

'What the hell just happened?' I asked them.

Amy propped herself up and took the goblet of water from Piper. She didn't answer me, instead she said, 'Well, that came a bit late.'

I still didn't know what she was talking about and it was beginning to annoy me. I didn't want to be rude by questioning her when she was only after passing out, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer. 'Look, someone really needs to explain what's going on or I swear I'm going to explode.'

Amy and Hestia exchanged glances and finally Ameli said, 'That, Hazel, was part of my story you haven't heard yet.' She sat up straight and Piper, Hestia and I sat down on the floor again. 'What just happened was part of my…my curse. Sometimes I, uh, get visions…of the future.'

Huh? I was praying to every god I knew that we did not have another Octavian on our hands. 'Are you serious?' I looked at Piper but she just shrugged.

'It fits I guess. Rachel does the whole glowing eyes thing whenever she issues a prophecy.'

Why did everyone keep choosing to pick topics to talk about that I had no understanding of? Who was Rachel? 'Seriously guys, can we talk about something I understand? Rachel? Please explain.'

Amy and Piper smiled at each other. 'Rachel is from Camp Half-Blood. She's the Oracle.'

I raised my eyebrows. 'She's not like Octavian, is she?'

'Who?' Amy asked. 'The skinny blond kid obsessed with teddy bears?'

'Yea, how did you know that?'

She tapped her temples. 'You'd be surprised how much I know about the camps from this. Anyway, Rachel's nothing like him. She's not a demigod, just a mortal who can see through the Mist. Or she was until last summer, when she took in the spirit of Delphi. Now she issues prophecies whenever there's to be a quest.'

It would be nice to have a real Oracle at camp. All we had to go on were Octavian's pile of rubbish and the prophecies given to us by the gods. The time Mars came to us was the only time that had ever happened.

'Yea, and every time she gives us a prophecy her eyes roll back and she spouts a load of green smoke. It's really weird the first time you see it,' Piper added.

'Girls, I think we're straying from the real matter here,' Hestia said in a warning voice. Ever been scolded by someone your age? My advice: unless you've got a good poker face, you should avoid it. Piper and I nearly burst out laughing. 'Ameli, what did you see?'

Amy's face turned grim. 'I saw Tartarus. I've never been there before in a vision. I guess that's why I passed out. Normally I can avoid collapsing. I saw Percy.'

My eyes widened. 'Percy? On his own? What about Annabeth?'

'I didn't see her, just Percy. He had Anaklusmos out, ready to fight. He was in a clearing in a forest of dead trees.' She hesitated. 'Hestia, he was about to fight the Minotaur.' Oh, gods.

Hestia looked depressed, almost mournful. 'This is bad news. Tartarus will drain his strength, making it extremely difficult to fight. Even if he can defend himself, it will make no difference. Monsters are invincible in that place.'

Amy looked gutted. 'He's had experience; he may be able to trick him.'

I narrowed my eyes. 'What do you mean by experience?'

'Didn't they tell you? Percy's met the Minotaur before. Twice, actually.' It was weird that Amy knew so much about them even though she did really know them. I thought they were my friends, but it turns out there was a lot they hadn't told me.

Amy read my expression. 'They were your friends Hazel. They still are. Annabeth and Percy have been through so much over the years, and if you want to know everything, it could take several days.' She gave me a small smile. There was a minute's silence.

'Maybe Percy got Annabeth to go hide or something. If he knew there was a fight coming, he wouldn't have let her near it, not with a broken ankle,' Piper said.

'Yea.' I nodded. 'Yea, that makes sense. Percy is really protective. But still, how could they be sure they'd find each other again? Tartarus is bound to mess with their minds. It's Hell, literally. If there's one way to really get to them, it's to split them up.'

The others nodded in agreement.

Hestia was about to speak again but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. JayJay, Amy's pegasus, who had been sitting silently in the corner, stood up and made a whinnying noise.

'It's OK Jay, you're fine,' Ameli said.

'One of the guys must be awake,' Piper announced. 'Boy are they gonna get a surprise.'

The door swung open and Nico stepped out. 'Hey, I thought maybe-' He stopped talking when he saw that we weren't the only ones there. His eyes widened and JayJay made a snorting sound. Nico looked over at me. 'You wanna explain this?'

We all stood up. 'Hello Nico. It has been a long time since I last saw you.'

He frowned, trying to work out who Hestia was. 'Who are- wow. Hang on. Lady Hestia?' He stared at her in shock.

'Indeed.'

'Uh, since when do you appear as a teenager? Normally, you're like eight or something. And what are you doing here?'

Hestia smiled at him. 'I changed my appearance to fit in.' She motioned her hands towards us. 'To answer your second question, I am here to assist a friend.' She nodded to Amy.

He eyed her up and down, not sure what to make of her. 'Why do you have a pegasus with you?' I knew Nico didn't like horses. Before Amy could answer, another set of footsteps echoed from below decks. It was Frank.

'Um, this is awkward.'

'You know what, I can't be bothered doing this again and again. Why don't you just get everyone up here. It'll be far simpler,' Amy said.

'Yea, well explanations would help.' It was Jason who'd spoke. He and Leo stood in the doorway, eyes wide.

Amy looked over at them. Her face was full of fear and shock. 'Oh, gods.'


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to everyone whos reviewed! Really appreciate it!**

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**Chapter XI-AMELI**

I was nervous enough when Nico and Frank came up. It was going to be difficult to convince them of my story, even with Hestia to back me up. It had been going well with Piper and Hazel, but this was going to be hard. When Nico and Frank arrived, I figured, OK, at least if they don't believe me, they'll trust one of their friends/crew members. Of course, I hadn't banked on him turning up just then. When he appeared in the doorway, my heart literally stopped. I couldn't help myself from saying, 'Oh gods.' I had wanted to explain this part to the others _before_ he came up.

Suddenly, I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to say something to him? What would he say to me? Would he be angry at me? Would he be happy? I wasn't sure what I felt. He stepped out of the doorway and looked around. He nodded at me and Hestia. Seriously? That was the greeting I got after a year? Then he turned to Piper and Hazel and began to speak. I realised he had nodded as indication rather than a greeting. 'Um, who are they?' he asked.

'Excuse me?' I blurted out, not being able to help myself. 'I get that you might be annoyed at me, but to act like you don't know who we are is a bit much.' My voice had started to shake. How dare he treat me like that? Even more so, Hestia. I mean, you don't disrespect a god like that unless you're really asking for it.

He took a step backwards, a confused look on his face. Everyone was confused, I realised. 'Amy, hush. I think he may be telling the truth,' said Hestia. She looked at him with concern on her face. 'You honestly don't know who we are, do you?'

He was now looking at both of us as if we were mad. He turned round. 'Great, more people who think they know me,' he said to Jason. Then he looked at Hazel, his face apologetic, 'Sorry, didn't mean it like that.'

She shook her head slightly. 'Don't worry about it, Leo.'

'Hang on; Leo's who you were talking about earlier. You asked her about a couple of people,' Piper gestured to Hestia, 'and then you were all like _Le- oh yes. Sorry._ You were starting to say Leo, weren't you?' Hestia looked at me before nodding.

'Right, I think we're forgetting the fact that I _don't know who they are_.'

'You've met Hestia loads of times. You stayed with the four of us-Alanna, Seth, Izzy and me-for so long. You spent what, like over a year with us? How can you just be missing a year's worth of memories?' I asked him. What I had really wanted to say was that he'd spent over a year with _me_. He didn't respond, just looked at me warily. I was about to go mental. I hadn't seen any of my friends in almost a year. I had been dreading seeing Leo again because I broke a promise to him that we'd stay together, that I wouldn't leave again on my own. I thought he'd be angry at me, but I only did it because I'd had a premonition of him at the Wilderness School with Jason and Piper, and knew he had to go there alone. Now I realised that anything, even him hating me, would've been better than him not knowing me at all.

I sat (more like collapsed) down on the floor again. I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes. I heard Hestia sit down next to me. She put her hand on my shoulder in an attempt to console me. Normally she was a great person to go to if you needed comfort, but not in this case. She was a maiden goddess, so didn't really know how to act when someone had 'guy' problems, and this was a big one. Everyone was quiet for a few minutes. I opened my eyes and looked around at everyone. No one really knew what to say. I guess they were pretty shocked at the whole Leo thing, but at least no-one had accused me of lying. Yet.

'Did…did you say that she was Hestia? Like the goddess of the hearth? Greek version of Vesta?' Frank was looking towards me, but nodded at her.

I nodded. 'Yes.'

'Greek _version_…' Hestia muttered. 'I prefer _form_.'

'How do you know a goddess?' It was Leo who spoke this time. When I looked at him my eyes stung and I was afraid I might start crying in front of everyone. 'We've all met gods, but you two seem like friends.'

Hestia looked at me and smiled. 'We are.'

'It's kinda hard to explain how we know each other. It's a very long story.' Another pause.

'Can you tell us it?' Hazel asked. 'From the beginning I mean…just so we understand each other?'

'Fine. I'll try,' I answered.

'Sorry, but before you start, can I ask something?' Jason had been pretty quiet until then, sitting beside Piper and watching everything. I knew he had difficulty believing that I knew Leo. 'Those people you mentioned, you know the friends you said Leo stayed with? Are they demigods?'

'Yea. There's Alanna, she's a daughter of Apollo-Greek, not Roman, Seth, also a Greek Apollo kid, and Izzy, daughter of Venus. Her real name's Isabel, but you only call her that if you want to be strangled.' I smiled sadly at the memory of when I first met Izzy. It had been Seth who found out she was a demigod. He told me her name was Isabel, so when I first met her, that's what I called her. You'd never think someone so small could look so deadly. 'Here. This is them.' I knelt up so I could take the photo from my back pocket. I always carried it with me-it reminded me of happier times. It was of the five of us, all smiling and happy. I showed it to them. 'There's me. That's Alanna.' I pointed to the girl with dark blonde hair streaked with gold. 'And that's Seth and Izzy.' Seth had his arm round her. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes. Apart from the eyes, he and Alanna had nothing in common, despite being half siblings. Izzy had light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was really small, shorter than me, even though her and Seth were four years older than the rest of us. Seth, on the other hand, was taller than all of us, almost two heads taller than I was, and not exactly short.

Leo reached out for the photo and I gave it to him. He looked at it with wonder on his face. 'How is this even possible? How can that be me if I don't remember it?' In the photo he had his arm around my shoulders. He looked up at me. I could tell he wasn't sure what to make of it. He gave me a look like _Were we…?_ I gave him a small nod. He blushed and I looked down at the floor. _This was kinda awkward._

I was pretty sure Piper and Hazel had seen the exchange between me and him and gave each other a knowing look. After a couple of minutes of silence I started to feel really uncomfortable.

Jason was the first one to talk again. 'So you know about both camps? Greek and Roman?'

'Yep. Kinda hard not to when you can see so much,' I said bitterly, tapping my temple again. Sure, sometimes telling the future was helpful, but most of the time I hated it. Especially after a really important vision, when I felt all tired and sick.

I looked up to see all of the boys looking at me, and I realised I hadn't explained my curse to them. _Although_, I thought_, I shouldn't really have to explain it to Leo again._ I called it a curse, others told me it was a gift. Easy for them to say-they didn't see what was going to happen all the time. It was terrible, knowing exactly what was ahead. That's why I almost enjoyed it when I was fighting monsters. Yea, maybe I was risking my life, but it was hard to see what was coming then. A lot of the time I knew when monsters were about to attack-I saw that much, but not how they would fight, or how I would retaliate. It was so unexpected, all the time. I loved it. Maybe that sounds weird, but it's the truth.

'I have a curse. Or a gift, whichever you want to call it-I don't care. Sometimes I see glimpses of the future. I can go looking for it if I need to, not that I always find anything. When I see something that I didn't go looking for, it's usually important. It's after those types of visions that I get really tired and hungry. Sick, sometimes. You can see why I'd call it a curse.'

'Tell them the other part,' said Hestia. 'It's more… useful.'

'I can read memories too.'

'Really? That'd be cool,' Frank said. Hazel glared at him for saying this, probably because she thought I hated this part as much as the future bit.

'It's okay Hazel, I like this part too. Just as Hestia said, it's useful. I can read any of your memories, and show them to others too.'

'Huh? You can, like, let people watch our memories?' Jason asked.

I nodded. 'Don't worry-I don't do that without permission.'

'How does that work? Is it like a movie in your head?' asked Nico.

I shrugged. 'Why don't you tell me?'

I picked one of my own to show them rather than using someone else's. It was of me, Izzy, Alanna, Seth and Leo, from a couple of years ago when we were back home. Izzy and Seth had come over for a visit-they were four years older and were living in England now. I broadcast it out to everyone's minds and from the gasp Hazel let out I knew they could see it.

_We were sitting in the park on the edge of town, by the lake. It was warm out, which was pretty rare where I lived. _I swear I was about to cry as I watched this. It had been so long, almost a year since we'd been together. Even when Seth and Izzy weren't there, I always, always, had Leo.

_There was almost no-one about, but then again, everyone else was working or at school. Me and Alanna did that sometimes, skipped school. Most of the days we did that were spent recovering from recent monster attacks or training for upcoming ones that I had foreseen, but this was a special case - Seth and Izzy were home. It had been ages since they'd been here, and I always missed them. Seth and me had grown up beside each other, and we were more like brother and sister than friends. Leo never went to school, which was so unfair. Well, actually, I knew he couldn't because technically he's supposed to be in America and if he tried to register at a school they'd know that he had ran away._

_Anyway, this is what happened _before_ the attack:_

_We were all sitting around a picnic blanket. We were eating burgers-Leo had made them on some portable barbecue. We were laughing and smiling, and I was in a good mood, which didn't happen all too often after Pan died. I don't know how everyone put up with me._

_We finished eating and packed everything away. _

_'I'm bored,' Leo said._

_I looked at him and rolled my eyes. 'You're always bored.'_

_'That is not true. Believe me, if I was always bored, you would've heard about it.'_

_'I have an idea for something to do,' Seth said. He was grinning widely._

_I gave him a weird look. 'You wanna tell us maybe?'_

_'Even better, I'll show you.' He picked up his bottle of water and threw it over me._

_I was dripping wet. 'You idiot! What was that for?'_

_'You were bored! I think we can say that this is now no longer boring.' _

_'And you're supposed to be the mature one,' Alanna muttered, but she was smiling and holding back a laugh. After that she set us all off. I picked up my drink and poured it over Seth._

_He squealed like a little girl and got up to chase me. I sprinted away from him, running towards the lake. I yelled at him, but was laughing at the same time. The others got up and joined in with the water fight. It was the best fun I'd had in ages. I threw another drink over Leo and ran before he could soak me._

I loved watching memories like this, it always cheered me up._ A while later we all collapsed back onto the picnic blanket, exhausted and drenched in an assortment of water and fizzy drinks._

_'This juice is gonna make my hair all sticky,' Alanna complained. _It was odd the way that worked. You'd think it'd be Izzy complaining, being an Aphrodite kid. _I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. 'You'll be grand. All you need is a shower.'_

_Seth still hadn't stopped guffawing. 'We _have_ to do that more often.'_

_I was about to say something back but I had been interrupted by a premonition._ This memory was shown like watching a TV programme, not through my eyes, so we weren't actually watching the vision, even though I could see the distant look on my own face and the white glow coming from my own eyes. I didn't always pass out, that only happened for long visions, or ones that were taking place (or going to take place) far away.

_The vision passed and my eyes returned to normal. My shoulders drooped as I began to explain this to the others. 'Oh, I knew this was too good to be true. We haven't had an attack in days, I should have expected one would happen today.'_

_'What is it that's coming?'_

_'Not too much, just a few hellhounds. Three. Nothing we can't handle.'_

_'We rarely get any attacks anymore,' said Seth. 'I almost miss them sometimes. Normal can get boring.'_

_'Yea, it's only here that we ever see many monsters. I suppose that's to be expected when there's five of us,' Izzy said._

_'Not to mention the _O most powerful one_ over there,' Alanna teased. _

_I always hated when she mentioned that. Pan had told me it was my scent the monsters were picking up from far away. _You are more powerful than any of the others, than _any_ demigod at _any_ camp. _That's what he used to say to me. Everyone figured that it was my gift that made me more noticeable, but I wasn't entirely sure._

_'How far off are they?' Leo asked. _I felt a pang of sadness as I watched him look at the past version of me with concern on his face.

_'Eh, couple of minutes I guess.' We all stood up and got ready to fight. Izzy and Alanna took out there bows-Pan had enchanted them to appear on their backs whenever they were needed. Seth drew his sword and shield, and Leo's hands ignited. I slapped my charm bracelet, and it formed a shield. I drew out my pen and uncapped it, turning into a dagger._

I know what you're thinking; why do you have a shield like Thalia? A weapon like Percy? Pan told me that my dagger was as old as Percy Jackson's sword, Anaklusmos. Leo, with a bit of help from Pan for the whole transforming bit, had made my shield, taking the idea from Percy's and Thalia's.

_'Maybe less than a few minutes,' I said, as I heard several snarls coming from the woods. A second later they appeared out of the trees. There were more than I had expected, five, not three. 'Looks like we're going one-on-one,' I yelled to the others who'd started to spread out. The hellhounds seemed to agree with me. One of them, the biggest, ran at me. I dodged sideways and stabbed with my dagger. It yelled it pain, but turned to face me again. I knew with such a short blade it would be difficult to make a deep cut that would be fatal to it. I willed the blade to change to sword form and it obliged. This time when the hellhound jumped I slashed and it turned to ash, letting out a final howl._

_I looked round at the others. Seth had finished with his hellhound; it was now a small pile of dirt. He went to help Izzy with hers, as it was hard to kill such a big monster with arrows. Alanna had switched to her sword instead. Leo threw a fireball at his opponent and it shrivelled into nothing. He whooped with joy. 'And that is how it's done.'_

_I glanced back at the others and saw Izzy's monster was now gone too. Alanna was further away from the rest of us. I watched in dread as the hellhound knocked her out with a huge swipe of its paw. I knew if I didn't do something it would kill her. It was about to pounce, so I threw my sword like a javelin at it. I'd never been good at using s javelin, but I prayed to every god I knew that it would find its target. My sword went straight through the mutt's body, shattering it into millions of pieces. Alanna sat up again, so I knew she'd be okay. We ran over to her._

_'I didn't really expect that to work,' I said._

_'Thanks.' Alanna looked at me gratefully. 'I almost died.'_

_'Not a problem.' She took my hand to help her stand up and she hugged me._

_ 'Thank you, so, so much.'_

I let the vision fade out, and I opened my eyes again. They were all looking at me in disbelief.

'Seriously? "_Just_ a couple of hellhounds"? Frank stared at me. 'You say that like it was easy.'

I gave him a mock salute. 'All in a day's work.'

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**Longest chapter so far! I've been ill all week so sorry for no updates :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok, I know it's been ages, but I promise I'll update a least once more in the next week or so. I'm off school today, Friday, the week after, and the Monday after that for Easter. I've started a third fanfic story-it's a crossover between _The_ _Host_ by Stephenie Meyer and _Maximum_ _Ride_ by James Patterson. Check it out if you want to. It's called Not Alone.**

**Chapter XII-LEO**

Wow. That was so cool! But… also creepy. How can that be me? I don't remember it. Also, according to Amy, she was my girlfriend. I mean, I think I'd remember dating someone like her. She was really pretty, despite the fact that her jeans and hoody were covered in burn marks and rips, and she had dirt on her face. She looked as if she hadn't slept in days. As if a girl like her would even look at someone like me. But… she seemed really upset when she discovered that I didn't know her. When you've been through as much sadness and pain as I have, you learn that it's hard to fake it.

Depressing thoughts aside: the whole vision thing was pretty weird. And I don't remember ever fighting that well before. Amy seemed really good with a knife. And at javelin throwing. How had she hit it so accurately from so far away? From what she said at the end, she wasn't sure either.

'Oh my gods,' said Piper. 'That's amazing! How can you do that?'

'Um, I'm not really sure. I've always been able to… I was born being able to do it.'

'Is it something to do with your parent? Like, your aim was pretty good when you threw the sword. Is Apollo your Dad?' Jason asked.

Amy looked uncomfortable. 'I don't know who my dad is. I've never been claimed.' She paused, thinking. 'He was Greek though. I know that for sure. And it's not Apollo.'

Jason's eyebrows scrunched up. 'How do you know that?'

'If he was my dad, he would've told me.'

Ok, that didn't make sense. Hestia seemed to realise this. 'I'm not the only god who knows of Amy. Pan wasn't _that_ great at keeping secrets.'

'You lot found out cause he wanted you to know Hestia. He managed to stop everyone else finding out about me. And he convinced everyone but the nature spirits that he was dead for a couple thousand years. I wouldn't say he was _that_ bad a secret keeper, would you?' Wow that girl could get defensive. But who was this Pan guy?

'Amy, you know I didn't mean any offence.' She just shrugged in reply.

'Who's Pan?' I was glad I wasn't the only one who didn't know.

Amy ignored him, so Hestia turned to Frank to answer. 'He was the god of the wild. He was the one who took Amy away, to keep her safe. He trained her since she was very young. He was never actually there, he was always in that labyrinth cave, but he trained her through his mind. They could talk telepathically. He died around two years ago.'

'Oh… I'm sorry,' he said, but he still seemed confused as to who he was.

'Faunus,' Hazel hissed. That seemed to help more.

I realised that I knew the name Pan from the nature spirits and satyrs talking about him at camp. There was some whole thing about a quest to the Labyrinth-like the real one-that had been about finding Pan. Grover, Tyson, Nico, Rachel, Annabeth and Percy had all been there when he died. Percy got around a lot, didn't he? Since he came to camp, I don't think there'd been a proper quest that didn't involve that guy. I was kinda glad we had him as part of the seven 'cause you never know how much freaky stuff you'll see here. Bummer that some of that _freaky_ _stuff_ had been what had taken him and Annabeth away.

'What were you saying about Apollo?' Nico asked.

Amy looked up at him. 'Apollo used to come see us too.' She gestured at me. 'I mean, majority of the time he had two of kids with us. And… and I guess he felt bad for this, you know?' She gestured at the top of her head. 'It wasn't really his fault, but he thought it was 'cause he was the god of Oracles. That's not really what I am-an Oracle, I mean-but I have some similar powers.' She turned to me, Jason, Nico and Piper. 'You lot have seen Rachel give a prophecy, right?'

We nodded. 'Yea,' I said, 'Bit of a weird thing to see when you've just came to camp.'

Amy smiled slightly. It was a nice thing to see. 'I, uh, do the glowing eye thing too. My eyes go completely white and glow a bit. You can't see my pupils or anything.'

'You don't spew a pile of green smoke though, do you?' She laughed this time.

'No, I don't do that.' She paused, and then got up to walk over to her pegasus. 'You OK Jay?' He didn't make any noise as far as I could tell, but Amy said, 'You're always hungry. Just get up for a second will you? You're sitting on my bag strap.'

The horse snorted and shifted to the side. Amy lifted a backpack off the floor and came back over and sat down. She rummaged through it for a minute, then pulled something out. 'Apollo gave me this-to make up for the curse thing he said. I told him it was Ok and made him take it back, but after he left that time, I found it sitting on my bed.'

I looked at what she was holding. 'Um, a harmonica?' I must be missing something.

'Yep. Well, sort of. Check this out.' She held it flat in her palm and stared at it intently. It started to glow, giving out a gold light. It started to get longer and thinner, until it was about two and a half times as long. The glow faded and Amy held it out to us triumphantly. 'I only keep it as a harmonica 'cause it's smaller and easier to carry about. It can be almost any instrument I want it to be.'

I just stared at it.

'And what is it now? Like, a recorder or something?' Nico asked.

'It's a tin whistle.' Amy looked at him as if this was obvious. 'It's mainly used for traditional music. Hang on.'

It started glowing again, and got bigger and bigger. The next thing I knew, she was holding a guitar.

'Oh. My. Gods. That is so cool!' Hazel exclaimed. 'Do you play?'

Amy nodded. 'Yea, I play guitar, piano and I can play a bit of violin.'

'Do you sing?' Piper asked.

'Um… I don't know, sometimes, I guess…' Translation: she doesn't like singing in front of people.

'I am sorry to interrupt, but I think Zeus will be aware of my absence pretty soon. I think we should get on with telling you Amy's story, before I must leave.'

'Ok, fine, but it's gonna take a-'

'Amy? Ameli? Are you Ok?'

'Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. I just had an idea. Hestia, do you think I could use my gift? I could show them my memories, couldn't I? It would be far quicker.'

'Hmm. I think you're right. Let's get on with it then.'

Amy had her eyes half closed when we were interrupted.

'S'up guys.'

Amy looked at the guy who was standing next to her pegasus. 'Really? What the hell are you doing here?'

'Nice to see you too, cuz.'

'Hello Apollo.'

'Hey Hestia.'

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**R&R! Sorry if not much happened… I'll try to update soon.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I realise I haven't done a Percy or Annabeth side of the story in a while, but there is a reason for that. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter XIII-PIPER**

Two gods in one day? After all the praying to them over the past 6 months or so, they turn up now? I'd be really grateful if one of them could help us get Annabeth and Percy back, but seen as they only seem to turn up when Amy's around, I'm not sure helping them out of Tartarus was their first intention.

'Apollo, seriously, why are you here?' Amy asked.

'Really know how to make someone feel appreciated, don't you Ames?' he said bitterly.

'Don't. Call. Me. That,' Amy growled in response. She stood up and glared at him.

'Touched a nerve, did I?' Wow, Apollo could be annoying sometimes. Even if he was good looking. But he had nothing on Jason.

'Shut up!' Amy yelled. 'The only one who calls me that is- is-' She glanced sideways quickly, and then looked back at the sun god. I knew, just like everyone else, who she was looking at.

Apollo raised an eyebrow at her, then turned around to look at the rest of us. Hazel, Frank and Jason looked a bit confused. They got to their feet, so me, Leo and Nico did too.

Jason looked shocked that Amy was treating a god with disrespect. Arguing back with one like that wasn't the smartest thing to do. But it was Apollo's own fault; he was acting like a jerk. Jason did a sort of half bow towards him. 'Lord Apollo.' Frank and Hazel did the same as Jason. He gave them an amused look. I looked at Nico and Leo, and they shrugged at me. Romans were a lot more formal and respectful towards the gods than we were. But then again, we saw gods far more often than they did. At least, that's what I'd been told. Since the gods went silent, no-one was meant to see any of them, but occasionally, they broke the rules and visited us or invaded our dreams.

His eyes passed over us, then stopped on Nico. 'You're Hades' kid. You're the one who lost the sister, aren't you?'

'You know perfectly well that was me.'

'Oh, I do, do I? You know,' he said sarcastically, 'I really wish I could've met her. The daughter of hell, what a wonderful person she must have been.'

'You _did_ meet her you-'

'Nico, stop! Apollo! Don't you dare talk about a hero that way! If Artemis died I doubt you would appreciate someone insulting her memory,' Hestia scolded.

'Oh, and for your information, Hazel's a daughter of Pluto,' I said to him. I swear to all the gods I was going to slap this guy up the face.

Frank looked as if he felt just like I did, but Hazel had put a hand on his chest to hold him back, even though she was glaring at him.

'What is up with you? You used to actually be nice, and when I asked you why you were here, I meant it,' Amy said, shaking her head slightly.

He turned to Leo. 'You know, you should really teach her how to keep her mouth shut.' Leo just looked between Apollo and Ameli, unsure what to say.

'Don't bother telling him that.' She spoke quietly now, but her voice was still full of hurt and anger, and it was as if she was daring Apollo to say something else against her.

Again, Hestia cut in to stop the row worsening. 'Apollo! Don't you say another word against anyone here, or anyone else for that matter. Every half-blood standing on this deck is risking their lives to save us and the rest of the world. You ought to be a little more grateful.'

'I believe that when Amy asked why you were here it was because she generally didn't know. My best guess is that you need something, and if that is true then I don't think you're going to get much help asking like that. But then of course, I could be wrong and you are just here purposefully to annoy us all, and if _that_ is the case then let me tell you, you are doing a very good job of it.' She said this last part really fast, making me think of a younger (at least, younger-_looking_) version of Professor McGonagall from _Harry_ _Potter_.

She glared at him, and he stared back, right into her eyes. Finally, he sighed and glanced away. 'You're right. I do need something.'

'What is it?' Nico asked through gritted teeth. He hadn't forgotten the comment about his sister.

He looked to Ameli. 'Sorry.' Wow. Did a god seriously just apologise to someone? Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it wasn't something you see every day.

Amy didn't answer; she just looked at him and blinked as an indication to go on. 'I need your help to save someone. I know I've just a complete idiot and everything, and I'm really sorry, it's just that I'm seriously worried. I know you've no reason to help me, but please, will you help your friend?'

Amy eyes opened wider. 'Friend? _My_ friend? And if it's someone you want saved…'

She kept muttering to herself as she started to pace up and down. She covered her face in her hands. 'Couldn't be him…Seth wouldn't…giants…they couldn't take him…' She stopped again, a look of revelation on her face. 'That's just it, isn't it? They didn't take Seth, did they? Then it must be…crap.'

'Alanna,' he said, knowing Amy had figured it out.

'Who?'

'What?'

'Who has her now?'

'One of the giants-I'm not sure which.'

'Do you know where then?'

'Yea, it's in Athens.'

'Oh, great.'

'You will go, won't you?'

Amy looked at him. 'You really think I'd just leave her? Of course I'm going! Apollo, she isn't just my friend, she's more like my sister. She's saved my life tons of times.'

He smiled gratefully. 'Thank you. I'd go with you but-'

'But Zeus will notice,' she finished for him. She walked over to her pegasus and sat down beside him. 'You up for a trip, Jay?'

He snorted and Amy took that as a yes.

'Hang on. Why did they take Alanna?'

'I dunno. Just for a hostage I guess.'

'Yeah I got that. But who do the giants plan will rescue her? They don't know about me.'

'Well then,' I said, 'wouldn't it be us? We're the ones trying to stop them in the first place.'

She nodded, considering this. 'Probably, but you guys don't even know her.'

'Doesn't she go to Camp Half-Blood?' Jason asked.

'She does, but she hasn't been there since last summer so you wouldn't have met her. She doesn't go until July, 'cause that's when the summer holidays start back home.'

There was a pause and everyone just looked around.

'I better get going then,' Amy said.

'Uh, why?' Hazel asked her.

'I have to save Alanna.'

'What, on your own?' I said. 'You don't really think we'd leave you with no back-up?'

'Pipes, what…' Ok, so Jason obviously didn't want to help.

'We're going to Athens anyway, and Gaia won't rise until August 1st and today's only July 4th. Amy obviously came here to help us, so I don't see why we shouldn't help her out.' Apart from Jason, everyone else looked convinced. Especially Leo.

Jason seemed to realise we were all staring at him. 'Well… I dunno, if you guys think… fine. We'll save your friend.' He glared at Amy. 'But if I think for one second you're gonna betray us, you can get off this boat and save her yourself.' And with that, he turned on his heel and headed below again.

'He's in a good mood,' Apollo said, causing me, Amy and Hazel to roll our eyes at him. 'Never even got to mention that he's my half-brother.' He sniffed as if he was really hurt.

Amy smiled a little and punched his arm lightly. 'Go before your dad electrocutes us.'

'Fine. And thanks again, all of you. Alanna means a lot to me.' And with that he started glowing and we all turned away so as to not get vaporized.

After the light died down, we turned to Hestia. 'You too,' Amy said.

'Ok. I'll see you again soon. And Amy,' she caught her arm and spoke more quietly, 'everything will work out, I know it.' Amy gave a small nod.

'Goodbye everyone.' She too started to glow, and again we turned away. 'And good luck.'

After she was gone, we all looked at each other.

'So,' I said, 'we're on a rescue mission.'

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**So…anyone seen the Host? Saw it yesterday and it was really good. I love Saoirse Ronan (Melanie) and Max Irons (Jared), and no longer hate Jake Abel (Ian) because I used to not like him because he played Luke.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Ahhhhhhhhhh! The House of Hades cover has been released and the first page in Hazel's POV was leaked! I only found out today and I discovered the Son of Sobek can be downloaded as an ebook in five days! This is the best day of my life! Ok, maybe that's sad but it's HEROES OF OLYMPUS!**

**Maybe you've noticed, but in the Last Olympian both of the Minotaur's horns grow back, but I said when Percy saw him both of the horns were still missing, so just for this story, we'll pretend they don't grow back, ok? I may come up with some reason to explain this later on - I'm not quite sure yet.**

**Anyways, I'm back! This was meant to be a celebration chapter 'cos I have officially finished my Summer Exams, but my computer had a virus on it so I'm updating a week later than I expected. Only one more week of school left now!**

**Again, apologies for not updating in so long but as I said before I've got tonnes going on at the minute. I hope you guys are still bothered to read my stories. Here's chapter 14 in Annabeth's POV.**

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**Chapter XIV-ANNABETH**

I limped in the direction of the clearing where I'd last seen Percy (At least, I think I was. It's hard to tell when everything looks the same.) We'd been separated for a lot longer than I would've liked, and since the Minotaur's yells, I hadn't heard a thing. I didn't know if Percy was okay or not. I didn't know if he would stay put and let me find him, or if he thought I would wait for him to find me.

This wasn't like me. I always, always have a well thought out plan, but now we had no rendezvous point, no way of knowing if the other was all right, no way to navigate this freaking forest of death, and no way for me to know if Percy had killed the Minotaur… oh no. No. No. No, no, no, no, _no_! He can't be killed, not now, not _here_. None of the monsters could. If we met any more of them we'd be in big trouble. Then again, the Minotaur is back (sort of), I'm injured, I don't know where I am, and my boyfriend may have just went and got himself killed for me, so we _may_ already be in trouble. Just maybe.

I wondered if Percy had figured this out yet. It wasn't like him to think of this kind of stuff before me, and I'm not being rude, it's just that he isn't one of the quickest to pick up on things. Anyway, hopefully he had, 'cause if he didn't, well, we're screwed.

For the last few minutes I had just been walking randomly, trying to think of something to help me find Percy, but with no success. As I kept walking, the trees started to thin out, and although the light had been a reddish colour, now green light was shining through the trees. The ground started to slope downwards, and it became rockier. As I left the trees I saw that I was standing at the edge of the slope that gave way into a small cliff. It was maybe ten or fifteen metres tall, and a roundish shape, like a three quarter circle. Over to my left the forest sloped down and met with the lower level of ground. The pit area was around thirty metres across, and when I looked at the centre I realised where the green light was coming from.

In the middle was a fire, but instead of normal fire it was Greek fire. A couple of huge creatures surrounded it. I couldn't make out exactly what they were because the fire wasn't big, but I was pretty sure one of them was the Minotaur. To my disappointment, he was very much _alive_. Alive? Or very much dead? If he was here then he was dead, right? But me and Percy weren't dead and we were here… gods, does being here mean that I'm dead? Is Percy? No, the Minotaur came here the hard way. Me and Percy came here willingly. Well not willingly. I doubt anyone or any_thing_ has ever _wanted_ to come here. Percy and I weren't dead. We weren't. Well, Percy might be.

No! Where the hell did that thought come from? We would get out of this together or not at all. I wouldn't leave here without him. Plus, he was strong. Percy wouldn't let the Minotaur kill him. He would've found a hiding place, somewhere the monsters wouldn't find him.

Being stuck in this hellhole was messing with my head. Every time I try to convince myself we'll be alright, some depressing thought just pops into the back of my mind. Too long in here would drive me insane. See, I'm doing it again aren't I? My thoughts are completely off track right now. Focus on the Minotaur Annabeth!

From this angle, with his right side facing in my direction, he appeared unhurt. That added to my list of worries. I knew Percy couldn't kill him, but I thought he could've weakened him a little. Maybe I'm ungrateful. Here I am, alive only because my boyfriend risked his life to save me, and yet I'm complaining that he didn't do it well enough. I kinda hate myself for that.

One of the other…_things_ around the fire seemed familiar. I realised it was a manticore. _That_ manticore. Dr. Thorn - the one from Westover Hall. He and the Minotaur seemed to be having some sort of argument. Wait, since when does the Minotaur talk? All it can do is grunt and howl.

I had to get close enough to hear them – it could give me a clue as to where Percy was – but the only way to do that was to get down there.

'Vlacas!' I cursed myself quietly for not bringing my Yankees cap, before remembering it didn't work anymore. Now how was I supposed to get close enough to hear them? I lay down on my stomach to lean my head over the edge of the cliff to look for somewhere to hide if I got down there. I was about to give up when I saw a small opening in the cliff face to my right. It didn't look big, but it was my only shot.

I stood up and brushed the dirt off of me. I looked down at my shirt and realised I had only made it worse – my hands had more gravel and blood stuck to them than my clothes had mud. _Time to stop worrying about appearances Annabeth _I thought,_ all monsters are gonna hate your guts no matter what you look like._

Now to plan my route down. If I went in at the entrance type thing, they would see me for sure. My only option was to climb down the cliff face. Now there was only a 96% chance of them seeing me. Even better, I had to manage it without using one leg. Just how I wanted to spend my time in hell.

I turned around, about to start climbing, before remembering that Percy had a length of rope in his bag. Earlier I had stopped to rest and had had a look through to see what he had with him. There wasn't much (it's not like either one of us had been planning this trip)- the rope, a box of matches (guess I wasn't the only one whose parents had the 'be prepared' attitude), some nectar and a little ambrosia, a bottle half-filled with water and a now broken torch.

Anyway, the little we had proved to be useful now. I much preferred the idea of abseiling down than attempting to climb one-legged before most-likely falling. I already had one leg injured, so I could do with the other one working, or I'd have to crawl away from the monsters who would surely realise I was there if I fell.

I tied the end of the rope in a knot around a knee-height boulder not far from the edge, tight enough so it would hold my weight, but loose enough that I could pull it free when I reached the ground. I attached the other end of the rope to my waist before picking up both backpacks again. I ended up packing all the stuff into mine, then folding up Percy's bag and stuffing it inside too. One bag was much easier for me to manage than two. I slipped it over my shoulders and walked backwards cautiously to the edge, coiling the rope around my arm to it was tight.

I glanced over to the monsters quickly, making sure they weren't looking in my direction. Dr. Thorn and the Minotaur seemed to still be fighting, but still I couldn't hear them. Whatever the other thing was was simply watching them. I could only see its silhouette so there wasn't much chance of me working out what sort of creature was, and it sure didn't look like anything I'd seen before.

As soon as I was confident they weren't paying me any attention, I put my good foot over the edge and placed it flat against the rock, leaning back and putting my weight on the rope as I did so. Another anxious glance over my shoulder and I continued on my way down.

Until I hit a loose patch of rock, it had been going pretty well. I put my weight on a section of already crumbling rock, causing a number of pebbles to fall clattering to the ground, the sound echoing around the walls of the pit and the monsters to look around. Hurriedly, I pulled myself flat against an outcrop of rock next to me, hoping that the shadows it cast would prevent me from being noticed. After thirty seconds the monster returned to their animated conversation, so I came out of the shadows and made my way to the ground with shaking limbs and sweaty palms. _One step at a time_ I told myself, trying to calm my pounding heart.

Eventually, my feet touched the ground and I looked up at the climb that on a normal day at camp would have taken me all of forty seconds, but now took almost ten minutes. I made my way to the opening in the rock, after untying the rope from my waist, leaving it there in case I needed to get out of here fast(ish), sticking to the shadows in order to be missed if anything looked this direction again. I reached my new hiding place and shoved my bag inside, squeezing myself through after it.

What I thought was just a small hole worn into the rock turned out to be a long narrow tunnel, so low down that at the highest and widest part, I could only sit up with my knees half stretched out, my feet on the wall opposite and my backpack next to me.

Once I was settled but still rather cramped, I dug out my box of matches, struck one, and threw it down the tunnel, lighting it up for just a second. It seemed as though the tunnel narrowed even further , making it impossible for me to go any deeper, despite that I was only a metre or two from the entrance.

I was about to get annoyed when I realised I couldn't hear the monsters' conversation any better hear, before remembering that apart from the matches and torch and everything, I had brought one other item with me-Daedalus' laptop! If I could get it from my bag then I could record the few mumbles that I could hear, and use it to increase the volume. Why couldn't I have come up with this idea earlier? - it would've saved me a lot of trouble, and I could've just stayed in the forest.

But, just as I leant to my backpack, about to unzip it, I heard a noise. A low hiss came from deeper into the cave. It was the kind of noise that you didn't think twice about in the day, but at night or in the dark it scared the wits out of you. Instantly my breath caught before getting heavier and speeding up along with my heartbeats.

Whatever it was was scratching what I had to assume were its claws against the side of the cave, getting closer to me. I tried to stand, but my head collided with the rock and I fell to the floor, and the little I could see swayed and shook. I scrambled backwards on my hands and knees towards the entrance. Warm liquid that was undoubtedly blood dripped down my cheek, and though there wasn't much, my remaining energy poured out along with it and I collapsed yet again.

This time I wasn't getting back up.

I heard a distant whoosh, and an unidentifiable gas clouded around me. I may not have known what it was, but what I did know was how it made me feel. I was filled with dread.

Despite my desperate attempts to stay hopeful, to have faith in my friends and Percy, I could no longer do it. I prayed with all my heart this was the new substances fault, that this wasn't me thinking of my own accord.

I have to keep believing.

I have to keep hoping.

I have to keep faith.

Was this what dying felt like?

And, just before I slipped away from consciousness, I whispered, so quietly that I only really moved my lips, 'Percy, I love you. I'm so sorry.'

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**So? R&R!**

**Go on! Press that button down there! Plllleeeaaaseee!**

**Shannon, a girl I know, lost her brother this week, so I just want you to say a prayer or something for her, and I want to say how sorry I am. I can't imagine one of my brothers or my sister dying, R.I.P.**


	15. Chapter 15

**So? What did you all think of the last chapter? We're now back on the Argo II for chapter 15 in Ameli's POV.**

**DISCLAIMER: (I don't really see the point in these but everyone else does them so I may as well-do look like Rick Riordan to you?) I do not nor will I ever own PJO or HoO.**

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**Chapter XV-AMELI **

_'So,' Piper said, 'we're on a rescue mission.'_

'Looks like it,' Nico agreed.

I tried to stay calm and act as if nothing was bothering me, but inside I was so angry. How dare Jason speak to me like that? How dare those giants take my friend? How dare someone take Leo's memory of me?

Rage rippled through my veins and my fists clenched. I wanted to cry, yell, and punch someone-anyone-all at the same time. This wasn't fair! I don't care what it is the Fates hate so much about me, I don't deserve this. I trained and fought alongside my friends, didn't I? I fought for Olympus, didn't I? And now I'm trying to help save it again, so what can I have done that means I deserve this much bad luck?

Almost a whole year now on my own, with no home, no break from the constant monster attacks, and no contact with any of my friends. Can you imagine how lonely that can make someone feel? Even though I'd been dreading facing Leo again, I never wanted this to happen. It was only now that I realised just how much I would have preferred for him shout and yell at me than to not even know who I was.

I can't believe I left him. I mean sure, it may have been a bit safer for him, but given his future, I doubt it would have made much of a difference. Gods, how can I have been so stupid? Leo is practically the best thing that ever happened to me, and I just walked away. I don't think I will ever forgive myself for that, whether his memories return or not.

'Well,' Leo said, 'we've got at least another day until we reach Athens.' As I looked over at him again my eyes stung and I looked to the floor to stop anyone from seeing. No. Ameli does not cry. I haven't cried since the day we split up. I refuse to let whoever did this win. Crying meant admitting they could break me, and doubtless that was what they wanted most.

'Ok,' I replied, my voice hoarse. I coughed, trying to pass it off as though I just needed to clear my throat. 'Plenty of time for planning tomorrow, but tonight I'd like to just clear a few things up. I should probably finish my story. Is it ok... I mean, do you mind if I show you my memories? Only it'd be much faster than explaining.'

There were no objections, so I assumed that meant yes. I was about to ask Piper to call Jason up, before changing my mind. Screw him. I closed my eyes and projected the first memory.

_'Daniel! Get back here!'_

_'Amy's hearing voices! Amy's hearing voices!' the little blond boy chanted. He ran in circles around the house, a six year old version of me chasing after him._

_'Shut up, Danny!'_

_'Amy's gone crazy-she's nuts!'_

_'Am not!'_

_'Are too! Seth! Seth! Amy's gone mad! She's bonkers!' the boy screeched as Seth entered the back garden and headed towards us._

_He grinned and hunkered down beside me (he was ten and so was much taller than me at six) 'I'm sure that's not true. Danny, why don't you go play with your brother?' The child nodded excitedly and ran off, arms flailing wildly, eager to please the elder boy._

_'I'm not crazy, am I Seth?' I muttered to him._

_' 'Course not.'_

_'There was an old man in my head Seth! He talked to me and I could see him-Seth, he had horns!'_

_He smiled at me. 'I believe you.'_

That was the first day Pan spoke to me. He told me what I was, and that Seth was a half-blood too even though he didn't know it yet.

The next memory came from four years later.

_Ten years old now, I raced through the trees in the woods to the cabin we used to train in._

_'Seth! Seth! Where are you? Kyle?'_

I winced slightly at the mention of his name.

_I crashed through the wooden door to find Seth at one of the work benches sharpening his sword._

_'What is it?' he asked._

_'Pan says we can go to the camp this summer!'_

The next was when I was thirteen.

_'Do you have to go?' I said, though it came out more like a whisper._

_Seth nodded. 'Sorry. I'll come to visit, I promise. Take care, ok? Try not to get killed without me. Anything happens, you call me, right?' I nodded._

_One more sad smile and he ran to the car. I waved until my hand went numb, long after they had left._

Seth's mum had got a job in London, so they moved away, leaving me to train on my own.

I showed them fights, days when we'd taught each other to defend and shoot, and the days I'd met my friends;

_Again it was me, walking down a street in my town with Leo beside me._

_'What's your name?' I asked him._

_'What's yours?'_

_'No way! I asked you first.'_

_He looked at me warily. 'Leo.' I raised one eyebrow. 'Valdez.'_

_I nodded. 'I'm Ameli, everyone calls me Amy.' Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. 'I don't have a proper surname.'_

_'Why?'_

_I shrugged. 'You hungry?' We slowed to a halt._

_Leo sighed. 'Why are you doing this?'_

_'Doing what?'_

_'Helping me. What's in it for you?'_

_'Well that's fine then,' I said dramatically, 'I guess you don't want a McDonalds.'_

_'Okay then.'_

_I smiled and for the first time, he smiled back._

The next was Izzy;

_I glanced out of my window as a car pulled up outside. My eyes widened and I sprinted downstairs, out the front door and up the driveway. As I did so, the driver's door opened and a tall guy in his late teens got out._

_'Seth!'_

_'Amy!' He pulled me into a crushing hug, lifting me up and spinning me around. He released me and said, 'Hey Amy? You remember the girl I mentioned the last time I IMed you? Turns out she's a demigod, Roman actually.'_

_'What?! Did you tell her about us-Greeks?'_

_He nodded. 'She quit Camp Jupiter a couple of months back. Trust me, Amy, she's on our side.'_

_'Ok...'_

_The passenger door opened and out got an extremely short girl with mid length brown hair and hazel eyes. She approached us._

_'Hi,' I said, 'you're Isabel, right?'_

_Immediately I could tell that wasn't the right thing to say. Her face fell, and I could see her jaw clenched. She may have been smaller than me, but she still managed to look pretty scary._

_I laughed. Even now, two years later, I still found it funny how angry she could get._

_'Umm... what's wrong?' I asked, afraid I'd said someone else's name. I turned to find Seth bent double from laughing. He looked up to face me, still guffawing. I punched his shoulder. 'What is it?!'_

_'You told her to call me Isabel, didn't you?!' the girl yelled at him. He nodded, still smiling. 'Idiot.' He rolled his eyes._

_The girl turned to me. 'Sorry. Everyone calls me Izzy. I hate my full name, but some people,' she glared at Seth, 'don't seem to get it.'_

Then it was Al;

_'Why would you do this for me? You hate me!' she exclaimed._

_'I won't deny that I hate the people you hang round with, but I don't hate you. You've never done anything to me.'_

_'But all those times they've said stuff I've been there,' she reasoned, 'and I don't do anything about it. Why aren't you angry at me?'_

_I smiled, 'Do you want me to hate you or something?'_

_'Well it would make more sense!'_

_'Alanna, you'll soon find out that in my world, nothing makes sense.'_

I showed them how we'd fought together in the Titan War;

_'Seth! Dracaenae alert!'_

_'On it!'_

_We were on a street in Manhattan with monsters coming from every direction._

_'Leo! Hellhound!' He shot a ball of fire into its open mouth and it exploded. _

_'Gross!'_

_'Amy! There's one after you too!'_

_'I got telekhines over here!' Al screamed. After finishing off my hellhound, I raced to her side. They were easy things to kill, but will fifty coming from all sides; it would be hard to do it alone._

_After that, Alanna and I fought back to back, with Seth and Izzy doing the same and Leo off burning monsters and yelling things like, 'Ha! Take that Death Breath!'_

That was all I planned to show them, but another memory slipped in without me meaning for it too;

_It was the five of us, a few months before the war, standing on the street in my estate. Seth and Leo were both attempting to stand in front of me, but I shoved them out of the way. We were all facing the same direction, about ten metres from... him._

_'What do you want?' I asked him, my voice full of hurt and anger. My eyes were shining. 'Kyle, why are you-'_

With that I cut the memory off. That was too painful; they shouldn't have seen any of that.

'Wow,' Frank said.

'Yeah.'

'Who was the guy in the last one?' Piper asked.

'No one,' I said. I gave her a look that I hope read _Don't want to talk about it._

She nodded slightly. 'So you found out when what you were when you were six. That's even younger than Annabeth. I think it might driven me mad if I had been told then.'

I mouthed a thanks to her and she smiled. 'Who was the little boy in the first one?' she asked.

'Daniel,' I answered. 'He was one of the real kids of the family that took me in. There were three of them; Aidan and Daniel were twins, they're two years younger, and Eimear, she's three years older.' They nodded.

After a few minutes of silence Hazel said, 'Well, I don't know about you lot, but I'm going to bed.'

'Me too,' Nico said, 'I'm exhausted.'

'Amy, you can stay in my room if you like. Me and Hazel can share,' Piper offered.

I shook my head. 'No, it's fine, really.'

'What? You gonna sleep out here? At least take one of the armchairs.'

I nodded, giving in. 'Ok. JayJay, you wanna fly for a while?'

_Sure. You don't need me here do you?_

I shook my head. 'I'll be grand.' With that, he got to his hooves, stretched his wings, and flew off.

'Follow us,' Hazel said. She led us below the decks and along a wooden hallway. Hazel stopped at what I assumed was her room, but Nico kept walking. He paused at the end of the hall.

'Maybe I'm imagining it, but aren't there two extra doors here?'

Piper and Hazel gasped.

'Look,' I said, 'there's a note on that one.' I pointed to the door opposite where Nico was facing. I ripped it off and read it aloud to the others.

_'"Dear Nico & Amy,_

_I thought you might appreciate your own rooms. I have a feeling you'll be staying a while._

_Best wishes, _

_Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth"_

Well that was… unexpected.'

'You bet.'

'Well, I'll see you in the morning then.' Nico walked into his room and slammed the door shut behind him. Frank hugged Hazel before doing the same, and Hazel and Piper followed not long after.

Now it was just me and Leo. I avoided meeting his eyes.

'Um…' I didn't have a clue what I was meant to say now.

Leo just stared at me, apparently not knowing what to say either.

After a minute or so he said, 'Do you mind if I… if I ask you some questions? You know about…'

He didn't finish. He didn't have to. I guess I would be pretty curious too.

'Ok,' I said quietly. 'What do you want to know?'

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**So I got no reviews for the last chapter... :( Please review.**


	16. Chapter 16

**So thanks to any of you reviewed the last chapter! School is over!**

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**Chapter XVI-LEO**

I led Amy into the dining room and sat at my place at the table. She took the seat opposite me and folded her arms on the table, not meeting my eyes. I didn't blame her. _Man, _I thought,_ could this get any more awkward?_

'So...,' I said in an attempt to start up a conversation. I had no luck. Without even meaning to, I stared at her face. Like I said before, she was pretty. Like Thalia and Khione _combined_ pretty. It was only then that I noticed she always had her fringe across her right eye. Up until the first one I was in, she had her hair away from her face in the memories, but every one after that her face was partly covered.

She had a weird white streak in her hair. I wondered maybe if she had dyed it like that 'cause there was only one, before deciding she wasn't the sort of girl who would do that. It stood out from the rest of her hair, since it was dark brown, and I couldn't figure how she got it.

She must've noticed me looking, because she began twirling a piece of hair through her fingers self consciously. I glanced away, still unsure of what to say and not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable.

'So... you wanted to ask me something?' With a start I remembered it was me who asked her to talk in the first?

'Oh, yeah, I- um...' Inside I cringed and felt like hitting myself. _Dude! Be cool! _'I... em...' _Oh, yeah, smart bro! Mess up in front of the pretty girl!_

Amy started to smile. 'Nice to see this is so amusing for you!' I told her. She gave a small laugh.

'You were the one who wanted to talk to me, and you can't even seem to string a sentence together!' she said.

'Yeah, well, if you had just found out you had a boyfriend you have no memory of, you would be a bit tongue tied too!' I accused her.

She smiled sadly at me. 'Is there... is there something you wanted to know then?'

'Um, everything?' I sighed. 'Seriously though, you sure it was me you remember?'

'Course it is! I'm not _that_ stupid.'

'I never said you were stupid, it's just, why would someone like _you_ go out with someone like _me_?'

She scowled, shaking her head. 'Why do you always do this? You never stop putting yourself down. It does my head in!'

We were both quiet for a few seconds. 'Awkward silence!' I stage-whispered to her.

The corners of her mouth twitched. 'Aw, come on! You know you want to laugh! How could you not, with me, the incredibly sexy Leo 'Hot Stuff' Valdez in front of you?!' At that she burst out laughing and I watched her with amusement.

She shook her head at me while wiping the tears from her eyes. 'I'm assuming you came up with that one yourself?'

'What's that supposed to mean? I'll have you know I have quite the groups of females who are just dying to date me back at camp. But of course, if I chose one over the rest, I would risk breaking some poor girl's heart,' I said, pretending to be offended by Amy's comment. 'But alas, it is not to be.'

'Who'd you steal that line from? Shakespeare's worst play _ever_?'

'You risk hurting my feelings, good lady!' I told her. She clapped a hand over her mouth, and now we were crying with laughter.

'You haven't changed at all, you know,'she said.

'I wish I did know that.' I smiled sadly at her.

'Right!' she said, confident to change the sinking mood. 'How about we just start from scratch? I'll tell you something about me, and then you do the same.'

'Ok, sure. You start.'

'K. I'm Amy and I'm sixteen.'

'Leo. Fifteen.'

'That's not right. You should be sixteen by now,' she told me, her eyes narrowed. 'You're birthday's the seventeenth of September.'

'I know that. I'll be sixteen this fall.'

Ameli shook her head, obviously confused. 'No, you should be turning _seventeen_. There's only like a month between us. Oh gods, that's how they did it!'

It was my turn to be confused now. 'How who did what?'

'Don't you see? Whoever took your memories made you think you were only fifteen to stop you noticing the gap! Leo, you aren't fifteen, you're sixteen, like me.'

I gaped at her. 'You swear? Seriously?'

She rolled her eyes. 'I swear on the Styx, I am not lying to you.'

I nodded, satisfied. 'This is so cool. I'm older than Jason and Piper and Annabeth and Frank now! I hate being younger than everyone.' I looked at her. 'So you're birthday's in October then?'

She frowned. 'No.'

'But you said there was a month difference in us,' I reminded her.

'Yes, but I'm a month _older_ than you, not younger.'

'Oh,' I said, not really sure what to make of that. 'So what else do you know about me?'

'Lots. I know your full name is Leo Samuel Valdez. Your mum was Esperanza Valdez. She ran a repair shop until she died in a fire that Gaea caused. I know your aunt Rosa blamed you. I know that's why you ran away six times.' She spoke softly, as if afraid the last part might hurt to hear. It did.

'Seven,' I told her. 'Me, Pipes and Jason left the Wilderness School.'

'I know you're a son of Hephaestus. I know you have ADHD. I also know you're the first fire user in over 300 years, since Thomas Faynor in 1666. I know that you like to listen to music when you work, The Rolling Stones, like your mum. I know you crack jokes to try and cover it up when you're sad.' I met her eyes at that part.

'I know that you would do anything for your friends. I know you're caring, and kind, and loyal, and smart, and funny. And I know you don't deserve any of the crap the Fates have put you through.'

I listened to her, not bothering to check if she was right about things because I knew she would be. I didn't say anything for a minute or so after she finished. 'Ok, so you know all about me. I know barely anything about you.'

She shrugged. 'You know how I met you and the others. You know I've known about both camps a lot longer than either of them have.'

'Yeah, but the other stuff. Like your adopted family. Normal stuff. Stuff I should know.'

'Right then. Em... I found out what I was when I was six. I told Seth about three months later. I told Mary and Michael-those were my adoptive parents-when I was thirteen, so they wouldn't get suspicious when I spent hours learning about myths and training. I didn't get into detail, I just explained what a demigod was and that there was a big threat rising against Olympus, and I would have to help stop it. Their kids found out when I was fourteen.

'As you saw earlier, Seth left for England when I was thirteen. He finished school there and is in university studying medicine. He met Izzy and discovered she was a demigod in the first few weeks of university. That time I first met her? You turned up in the May before, and I realised what Al was about two months later.'

'What do you do to, like, have fun or relax? You know what I do.'

'Music. It always calms me down.'

'Oh yeah.' I said, 'you told us you play.'

'Yep.'

'Do you write music?' I asked, trying not to sound nosy.

'Bit...' she mumbled. I got the feeling she didn't want me to ask any more about it.

'And that guy? The one in the last vision?'

'I told you he was no one.'

'Didn't look like that. Was he the one who you were calling for in the second one? Kyle, wasn't it?' Perhaps I was being rude, but I sort of deserve to know, right?

'Look! He wasn't anyone! He. Doesn't. Matter.' Amy was glaring at me now, but then her gaze softened. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just, that's a story for another time.'

I shook my head. 'If you really didn't want to talk about it, you should've said.' She nodded. 'Now I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I need sleep.' I yawned, proving my point.

We got up and left the room, walking down the hallway. 'Amy, thanks. For, you know, answering those questions for me.'

'No problem,' she said. 'Night Leo.'

'Same.' She closed her door behind her. I walked back down the hall in the direction of the engine room, wanting to just check everything was running smoothly, but before I could, I heard voices coming from one of the bedrooms. It was Jason's.

'-don't care if _every_ god believes her Pipes! I don't trust her! And you of all people should support me. I can't believe you-'

'Oh, gods, Jason grow up! Just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean I have to think you're right all the time! _I_ trust her, why shouldn't _that_ be good enough for _you_? But no, you have to be the one in charge. The one who's always right. You're my _boyfriend _for gods' sakes, not my commanding officer in some Roman legion!'

A second later the door swang open, and was slammed shut by Piper. I looked at ner, confused and surprised. 'Um... what's up?'

'Your best friend's a jerk, that's what's up!' she snapped. She stormed down the corridor and kicked the door to her room open. The crash it made when it closed could probably have woken Camp Half-Blood.

Forgetting the engine, I went back to my own room, trying to figure out what had happened. Girls. So confusing.

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**So?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry for not updating sooner, but please don't ask me to write faster as I'm now writing four stories and planning a fifth. This is my longest chapter so far so I hope you like it.**

**As I just said, sorry. I've been on holiday for the past few weeks and had no way of updating this. I went with my family for nine days to a village called Ellmau in the Tirol in Austria, but before that we spent five days in Rome. Yes, Rome! As in the place the Seven went to! It was amazing. We went to the Roman forum and the Spanish Steps and the Trevii fountain (think that's how you spell it) and the Colosseum. They have SPQR written all over the place-at the top of notice boards and on drain covers and manhole covers. We got a free tour of the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica (it's huge). **

**Love you guys for reading this! **

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**Chapter XVII-AMELI**

I smiled sadly at Leo and closed the door to my new room behind me. I leaned with my back against the door, looking towards the ceiling without bothering to switch on the light. I ran through everything that had happened today in my head. There had been a lot of surprises along the way, but given what I had just encountered with Leo, it went okay.

I sighed, trying to stop thinking and planning for once, so I could just relax. I brushed my hand along the wall next to the door. I groped for the switch and flicked it on. When I turned around again, I gasped. Hestia hadn't just made an extra room, she had filled it with my things, most of which I had left back home and hadn't seen in months.

A bed sat against the wall on the right, covered in new pale blue sheets but with a throw covering the end. I recognised it as the one Pan had given to me on my twelfth birthday, made of a green silky material, embroidered with leaves and flowers and herbs in silver thread. On the nightstand sat a lamp and my battered copy of the Iliad (what can I say, I'm not the most careful person with things). There was a desk against the left wall with a map of New York City on it, covered in different coloured lines and arrows, which I realised was the attack plan we had used for last summer's war. Next to it stood a tall unit of shelves, crammed with books. Now, with my dyslexia I found it hard to read, but if I was left alone in the quiet I found it enjoyable. It was full of all sorts of books: ones on mythology, history, herbal remedies, animals and almost anything you can imagine.

It had a bunch of fiction books too; stuff like Harry Potter, Maximum Ride and The Hunger Games. This will most likely sound hateful, but I really enjoyed reading these books because for once, it was someone else who was getting chased after and hunted down (and because there really good as well!). I know they're fictional characters and everything but still, I think that sounds a bit mean.

On the other side of my desk, the side closer to me, sat two guitars on their stands; one electric, one acoustic. I gasped. They were _my_ guitars, the ones that I'd had much longer than Apollo's shapeshifting one, and the ones that couldn't transform smaller for me to have been able to have brought them.

The acoustic one was pretty simple in shape and colour. It was plain wood but with words written across it-every time I wrote a song I wrote the name of it on my electric one was pretty standard, with a deep blue finish covering most of the body and the area around the bridge and strings plain white.

There was a wooden chest at the foot of my bed which I assumed held my clothes. I was glad, and if you could see what I was wearing now, you would be too. The hoodie I was wearing had originally been blue, but seen as this was the only one I had had with me for the past few weeks (the other ended up becoming a hellhound's chew toy), it was closer to dark grey. My jeans were tattered at the ends and the slashes across them had dried blood around the edges, and out of the two pairs I had with me, these were the least ripped, torn, stained and covered in mystery substances of them all (I think the greeny brown one is monster guts).

My other stuff! With a jolt I realised I'd left my bag up on the deck. I sighed and turned to the door, shaking my head at my own forgetfulness. I yanked the door open and let it swing shut behind me.

As I walked down the hallway, I heard voices coming from one of the rooms. I'm pretty sure it was Piper's. I paused, listening. One voice seemed angry, agitated. The other was trying to calm the first down. They were both girls. Piper and Hazel. I shook myself out of the trance and proceeded on my way upstairs_. These guys trust you enough to let you stay here. Don't ruin that by eavesdropping. It's none of your business anyway_, I scolded myself.

It was dark out now. I took a long, deep breath as I assured myself I'd be fine, after only just remembering that we were flying. How in Tartarus am I supposed to sleep on this thing? Tartarus. Smart, Amy. Like thinking about the two heroes who are possibly the best chance we have of surviving this gods forsaken war being stuck in literal hell is gonna help you to sleep.

'Who's there?' a gruff voice demanded. 'Which one of you cupcakes is it?' _Cupcakes? _A clicking sound, and a tiny spot of light appeared. Then there was a small spitting noise as something caught fire. A larger flame burst to life and a orange flickering glow cast shadows all across the wooden floor. The source of the light was a lamp that was lifted down from where it had been hanging near the mast.

A figure was silhouetted by the light. A short figure.

'Who in the name of Pan are you?' the person asked. Not _person_, I realised as he trotted (yeah, I said trotted) forward, _satyr_. All he was wearing was an orange t-shirt with a wind breaker over the top, so I could see his horns, hooves, a fur covered goat legs.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Obviously he was some kind of protector. 'Don't use his name like that,' I snapped.

The satyr snorted. 'And who are you to tell me how to talk? You shouldn't even be on this ship. Believe me, cupcake, you do _not_ want to see my angry side. Hmm, let's see,' he said, sniffing the air close to me, 'a demigod, and a powerful one too. Who's your parent?'

I didn't answer, I just scowled at him. How many times were people gonna ask me that before they figured that it was a touchy subject for me?

Turns out I didn't need to answer, because he kept talking. 'Yeah. Definitely powerful. Something else too, what is that?' He carried on sniffing and I arched an eyebrow. Was he nearly done? 'Senses aren't what they used to be,' he mumbled. 'Stupid-' He stopped abruptly, eyes wide, looking at me in awe and shock. 'That can't be right. How can you be-? What?'

Okay, now he had me confused too. 'What?'

Then he breathed one word almost silently, as if he hadn't actually meant to say it: 'Pan.'

'Oh. Right.' I'd forgotten that satyrs could smell things like that; demigods, gods, monsters. 'Yeah, I forgot you could-'

'Why the heck do you smell like Pan kid?'

Kid. I'm pretty sure I haven't been a kid since I was six. 'Oh, he is- was my patron. I kind of... host part of his soul.'

'Okay. You're being honest.' He paused, then dipped his head forward, like some sort of small bow. 'Ma'am.'

I stepped away a tiny bit, taken aback. 'Yeah, um, you really don't need to do that. Or call me ma'am for that matter.'

'Oh. Good.' He straightened up. 'You aren't gonna explode me for being disrespectful if I don't though, are you?'

'I'm pretty sure I can't do that. I'm not a god. Just a demigod.'

'Yes, but with Pan dead, technically you're the closest thing to a god of the wild, are you not?'

I winced at the 'dead' part, and the satyr gave me a quizzical look, startled by this small display of emotion. 'I guess I'm the closest thing to one, yes, but I'm not actually the god of the wild. I'm not immortal.'

The satyr seemed to think this over for a second. 'Okay.' He turned away.

'Wait. You're not going to ask why I'm here or who I am or anything?'

'Fine then. Who are you?'

Um. 'Amy.'

He shrugged as if to say _What's the point of this?_

Man, this guy was weird. I crossed the deck and lifted up my backpack, then headed back to the trapdoor that lead downstairs.

'Who are you?' I asked him 'Why are you up here alone?'

He gave me a look like _Eventually she asked_ as he stood bolt upright with his hands by his side. 'I am Gleeson Hedge, ex-protector of Grace, McClean and Valdez, also ex-coach at the Wilderness School. I was sent with the seven to help smash that Mother Earth woman back into pieces.' He finished looking extremely smug with himself.

Okay, so Leo was Valdez, and if Jason was Thalia's brother then he was Grace, which made McClean Piper. 'I think it was Kronos and Ouranos who were cut into pieces, wasn't it? Not Gaea.'

He shrugged. 'Okay then.' He walked to the side of the deck and leaned over the railing. 'Hey you! You big sleepy goddess of earth woman! You here that? You never were cut into pieces, but you will be when I'm finished with you! Bring. It. ON!' He was waving a baseball bat as he said so.

I caught his arm and pulled him away from the edge. 'Yeah, it's probably best not to do that, don't ya think? Don't want to draw attention to where we are.'

Now he looked really confused. 'But that'd make me a coward. If there ain't and monsters about, who am I gonna attack?'

'Um.' I racked my brain for something he could do, because honestly this guy was pretty weird. 'Tell you what: us-me, Piper, Hazel, Nico, Frank, Jason and Leo that is-are going to save my friend from the giants in a few days. Then you can smash up as many monsters as you want.'

His face brightened. 'Thank you, ma- ah yes, so I never did say why I was up here. I'm on guard duty tonight.'

Of course, why wouldn't they have someone watching for attacks? 'Alright. I think I'll go to my room now. Thanks for... trusting me so easily.'

He nodded. 'Pan was a good person from all I've heard. I doubt he would've put his soul into someone he didn't trust completely.'

I blushed. 'Thank you. Some of the others weren't so quick to believe me.' _Not some_, I thought, _just one. Jason._

I headed for the trapdoor. I threw my bag down and was half way through the hole when Hedge spoke using his gruff voice again, 'Any of those cupcakes down below give you any trouble, I'll sort 'm out for ya.'

I smiled. 'Goodnight, Gleeson.'

'G'night, ma'am-I mean, uh, goodnight.' I rolled my eyes.

I set off back down the corridor with my bag on one shoulder. When I went into my room I opened the zip and turned it upside down, dumping its contents on the bed. There wasn't too much, just the other pairs of jeans along with another CHB t-shirt, a bottle of water, nectar, ambrosia, and some of the the other healing remedies I used that were made out of all kinds of herbs and plants, most of whichs' bottles were below half full, if not empty.

I opened the wooden trunk at the end of my bed and lifted a towel and my pyjamas out as well as a hair brush. I went back down the hall, this time passing the way upstairs and all the bedrooms.

I was about to try the next door on my left, before noticing that there was a small piece of bronze with αγόρια inscribed on it. _Boys_. Underneath was a piece of what must be gold with the same on it, only this time in Latin: pueris. If I hadn't known what the first sign meant, it would've taken me a whole lot longer to red the second.

I tried the door next to it, and sure enough, there were another two signs, bronze and gold, which said κορίτσια and puellae. _Girls_. It was a big enough room, with a toilet, sink, bath and shower. I set the hair brush on a shelf after locking the door behind me, and my towel and pyjamas on the rail.

I took off my destroyed closed and jumped in. I turned on the hot water and stood there for ages. I hadn't had a hot shower in so long. There were three dispensers on the wall; shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. I washed my hair, hoping to get rid of all the dirt and blood and who knows what else that was in it.

After what could have been hours, I came out again and dried off, putting on the oversized t-shirt and three-quarter length jammie bottoms that I slept in when I actually had a bed. I towel dried my hair and the brush through it. I picked up a hairdryer, about to use it when I realised there was no plug. Curious, I switched it on. It was silent. I put my hand to the front of it, and sure enough, it was working-I could feel the air coming out.

I walked over to the mirror above the sink and directed it at my head. If I hadn't been looking in the mirror I wouldn't have noticed, but my hair dried almost instantly. It was like one of those big leaf blower like things they had for when people fell (or were pushed) into the lake at camp. Leo. Of course he would come up with something like this.

I scooped my hair into a ponytail, careful to leave my fringe out of it. I eyed the white streak of hair. More painful memories. I brushed my fringe across my left eye so that it was hidden from view. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't ashamed of what was...under it, but after a while you get sick of the stares and questions. I'd had to do this ever since I got it. At camp I would stick out too much if people saw it and on the streets it would make me more noticeable, meaning people would remember me so it would be a lot easier for people to find me if they wanted to. You could search for months, but if I don't want to be found, you won't find me.

It was the same with my accent. I covered it up as best I could, because Irish stands out more than American anywhere.

I threw my old clothes in the bin, knowing they weren't worth keeping. I put on my camp necklace that I had taken off before I showered and picked up the towel and my shoes and brush, heading back to my room.

I threw the the shoes and towel in the chest, shutting it afterwards, and set the brush on the bedside table. I pulled open the drawer of the table and lifted the thing that sat on top: a leather bound book. My photo album. I flipped open the first page.

Almost all of were just of birthday parties and weddings, that sort of thing, but they meant a lot. I closed the book and went back to the drawer. I pulled out my Skullcandy headphones and put them on, plugging them into my iPod, picking the first song. _This Afternoon_ by Nickelback started playing.

When I say iPod, it wasn't really one. It looked like one, sure, but it wasn't the Apple symbol on the back. Instead it was the Greek symbol delta. Daedalus' mark. Being the only person who could properly navigate the Labyrinth, he of course knew Pan was there, and when he found out about me, he told Pan to give this to me. It could change into a laptop or smartphone or tablet too.

I'm pretty sure Annabeth had one too. I'd seen what had happened to Daedalus and his workshop in a vision, and somehow knew that he had saved another one of his inventions and given it to her before he died.

Don't ask me how I know that, 'cause I don't have a clue either. Occasionly I pick up extra things along with the visions-thoughts of those there or people somehow involved, or how someone felt at the time.

There were a few other bits and bobs in the drawer-hair clips, pencils, bracelets. Then I found what I had been looking for in the first place; a brown leather pouch. I pulled it out, closed the drawer and set it in the middle of the floor along with the empty jars from earlier. From the cupboard under the drawer I took a large wooden bowl, a pair of scissors and a mortar and pestle. You'll probably agree that they aren't the most normal things to keep at your bedside.

I set them beside the pouch and jars on the floor before crossing to the bookcase and running my my fingers along the spines of the books. After a minute I found the book on identifying and using healing plants and pulled it from its place on the shelf.

I lifted this, along with the nectar and ambrosia I had and sat on the floor cross legged. I opened the large book and set it to my side, running my finger along the list of ingredients for one of the cures which was, thankfully, written in Greek.

You may wonder why I need anything other than nectar and ambrosia for healing, but these cures are for far more specific problems than those. They heal you faster, plus, to spontaneously combust from these you'd need to drink about a gallon of them. The only catch was that they could take a long time to make and could be difficult to make too, and easy to get wrong.

Anyway, this one got rid of poison from the body. You'd be surprised how often demigods would need this kind of thing. Too bad I hadn't had it the first time that _thing_ had turned up.

I summoned all the ingredients that I would need for it from the pouch. It had an unlimited supply of every type of any leaf, herb or flower you could possibly need. I could store the remedies I had made in there too, but that was the bad thing: I had to make them all up myself as they didn't appear readymade from the bag, and with my rotten luck, it seemed as though whenever I needed a certain one I had run out of it.

An hour later I had finished the anti poison and the sleep inducing medicines and had started to work on one that would close wounds. I still had music playing through my headphones. I sang along with 22 by Taylor Swift. I guess the music must've been loud enough, because I didn't hear the voices outside my door, nor one of the people knocking. It wasn't until the door opened a crack that I realised there was someone there. I jumped to my feet and automatically my hand went to the waistband of my pyjamas where my pen/dagger/sword had appeared earlier.

A head poked around the door and I relaxed. Piper. I paused the music and took off the headphones, setting them on my desk.

'Sorry,' she said, 'I knocked but...'

'It's okay,' I told her, 'I didn't hear you, that's all.'

'Can we come in?'

I nodded and she and Hazel entered the room. The younger girl closed the door behind her.

'Wow,' she said, 'Vesta- I mean Hestia did a good job.'

'She did, didn't she?' I agreed. 'She brought a bunch of my stuff here from home. Did you guys want something?'

Piper shrugged. 'Just to talk. A lot's happened today.'

'You can say that again. You can sit down you know.' I gestured to the chair at the desk and my bunk. Hazel took the end of the bed while Piper sat on the desk chair. I sat at the top of my bed and looked between the two of them.

'What were you doing?' Piper asked, nodding at the equipment on the floor.

'Oh, I was making healing pastes. I was completely out of them and needed to make more.'

'Healing pastes? Can't you just use nectar and ambrosia?'

I explained how the medicines worked better than the godly food and drink. 'Makes sense,' Hazel said.

'So,' Piper said, a smile spreading across her face. 'You wanna tell us about you and Leo?' I realised this had probably been the whole reason she came here.

Hazel rolled her eyes and shook her head, ashamed of her friend's bluntness.

I groaned. 'Seriously? Girl talk? I thought I escaped this when Al-' I stopped, realising I was going to bring up the rescue plan again. 'I mean, Al and Iz were terror for this kind of thing.'

Piper laughed and Hazel grinned. 'What?' I asked them.

'It's just some of the things you say,' Hazel told me, 'they sound really weird compared to how we talk. And your accent's really strong.' I hadn't noticed until she pointed this out, but I had slipped back into my accent, no longer covering it with the American one.

'It's not really how I imagined an Irish person would talk either,' Piper told me. 'I've met other people from Ireland but their accents were... I don't know, stronger.'

'Yeah, well, I'm from the North of Ireland, not the Republic. People from the South have much stronger accents than we do.'

'Are you really Irish then? Was your mom definitely from there?' Piper asked.

'Probably not,' I answered, 'but I'm still Irish though. Even if I'm half American and half Greek, Ireland will always be where I'm from.'

They nodded and all three of us were silent for a moment or two.

'You never did tell us about you and Leo, you know.' I laughed and threw the pillow from beside me at Piper.

'Why are you so interested anyway?' I asked after she ducked and lobbed it back at me.

She rolled her eyes. 'Just because I'm not like the rest of my sisters doesn't mean we're completely different! And anyway, I'm still an Aphrodite kid.' She paused. 'Plus, it's...it's Leo for gods' sakes! He's so...Leo-ish! He's like my brother and it's really hard to imagine him dating anybody!'

'I know what you mean. I didn't even know I liked him until Al said something.' She had only been teasing, but that was when I realised how I felt.

'Have you talked to him yet?' Hazel asked. 'You know, alone.'

I nodded and filled them in on most of what Leo and I had talked about, mainly my theory of what had happened to him.

'The only reason why someone would do that is to make me weaker, right? But if the giants don't know about me then I don't have a clue.'

'So,' Piper said, 'either you've been betrayed or someone's discovered you.'

Betrayed.

'Amy? You okay?'

I nodded.

'It just that you went really pale there for a second. Is there anyone you know who you...don't completely trust?'

Yep. One name definitely comes to mind. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't side with Gaea. _You never thought he would side with Kronos either,_ a voice in my head told me, _Don't make the mistake of trusting him again. _

_Never, _I told the voice_, I'm not stupid. _Then I realised I was talking to myself and turned my attention back to Piper.

'Yes,' I told her in a whisper, 'but I don't want to talk about him right now.'

'And that boy? The one in the last memory, who was he?' Hazel asked quietly, as if afraid of the answer.

I remained silent and turned away from her gaze. 'Oh...same guy?' I gave one sharp nod and turned away again.

'Listen, Amy,' Piper said, 'I wanted to apologise for Jason. That wasn't fair, what he said, when your friend's in danger...' She trailed off into silence, thinking, and then continued. angry now. 'I tried to make him listen, but he's just so stubborn! He acts like I'm a little kid and he's a responsible adult who knows better than me all the time. It's not fair,' she said again, except this time I realised she meant it wasn't fair on her, not me.

'Piper it's fine, it's not your fault. And you should probably tell him how you feel, don't you think? Maybe then-'

'But I have!' she said, her voice cracking. She put her hand on her forehead as if she was stressed. 'Never listens...I don't understand. Why won't he listen to me?'

'Piper, I think he's just scared. He'd never admit it, but he's so worried and frightened, and you know how Romans can be. The leaders have to be calm and collected. Show no fear or whatever... and I don't blame him for not trusting me. If I was in his shoes, I probably wouldn't have trusted them either.'

Without thinking, I raked my hands through my hair, causing parts of it to come loose from my ponytail and for my fringe to be pushed out of my face. I didn't realise what I'd done until both girls let out small gasps.

'Crap!' I cursed myself for being careless and jumped off my bed and crossed to the other side of my room, facing the wall.

'Amy...gods, Amy, what happened?'

'What do you think happened?' I said, facing them again. My voice sounded tired. 'A stupid monster, that's what. Nearly scraped my eye off.' I looked at myself in the mirror on the back of the door, analysing the left side of my face. That monster, I don't know what it was, but when its claw scratched my face it must have released some kind of poison. There was one long scar that ran from the left half of my forehead through my eyebrow, over my eye, and ended half way down my left cheek. My eye was fine, despite of the scar across the lid, but the poison had turned the iris from green to a very bright blue.

If the cut had been any deeper I would've been in big trouble. I'd got enough nectar in me to stop it getting any worse, but it hadn't been able to heal my eye or the scar. Even now I would get throbbing headaches if I concentrated too hard because the blow that the monster delivered had affected my brain ever so slightly.

'I'm-'

'Please don't,' I told Hazel. 'Don't say "you're sorry". How many times do you think I've heard that? Even with mortals-I have to tell them I was in a car accident, and that chemicals affected my eye. They all used to tell me-well, the adults; the kids would just stare-that I looked fine, and I shouldn't be ashamed of it because it wasn't my fault. They didn't get it. Everyone just assumed I'd be embarrassed, but I wasn't. I'm not. It's like my accent I guess. I change how I look and sound to make myself less memorable. And the stares I get. You'd think it'd make me uncomfortable, but it just annoys me. And then, when you tell them to get lost, they look at their friends like "she can talk!".'

'That's horrible. What monster was it? That did that to you?'

I shrugged. 'I don't know. I never even killed it. It ran off after it attacked me.'

'Well-' Hazel was cut off as the door swung open. Hedge.

'What are you cupcakes doing here? Lights out was hours ago!'

'We were just talking Coach,' Piper told him, adding a small amount of charmspeak to her words, 'we weren't doing anything wrong.'

'Hmmm,' he grumbled. 'Bed, both of you, now,' he said, jabbing a finger at my two visitors.

Hazel sighed and made her way to the door, Piper right behind her. 'Night, Amy,' she said.

'Yeah, see you,' Piper said. They smiled at me.

'Night,' I told them.

'Speed it up,' Hedge told us.

I shared a look with the others. 'Goodnight Coach,' we chorused.

'McClean, Levesque; bed.' He turned to me. 'G'night ma'am.'

The smile fell from my face. 'I told you not to call me that.'

He shrugged and indicated for the girls to go ahead of him. Half way down the hallway, Piper looked back over her shoulder at me. Ma'am?! she mouthed.

I rolled my eyes and nodded at the satyr, then went into my room and closed the door. I turned out the light and collapsed on my bed, not bothering to pull the blanket over me. I was asleep within seconds. I finally felt as if I could relax, if only for a few hours.

But of course, I was a demigod, so that feeling didn't last very long.

* * *

**I saw Sea of Monsters the other night. I'm not going to lie, they changed so much of the book, but it was still a reasonably good movie.**

***THIS NEXT PART CONTAINS SPOILERS***

**They changed the prophecy age to twenty. TWENTY! They couldn't have even done eighteen, could they? This almost definitely rules out there ever being a HoO movie, because I reckon that'd be too old.**

**Review please :D**


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